Audit Advisory Board constituted to advise on audit policy and performance, with honorary expert members serving fixed terms.
An Audit Advisory Board has been constituted to advise the Comptroller and Auditor General on audit policy, methodology and strategic priorities, and to recommend improvements in audit performance within the CAG's constitutional and statutory mandate. Members will serve in an honorary capacity for a two year term; the CAG is ex officio Chair, five Deputy CAGs are ex officio members, and a group of external experts from administration, finance, policy, development, philanthropy, banking, environment and social activism have been appointed. The Board's first meeting is scheduled for mid August 2011 to initiate its advisory functions.

Market borrowing schedule adjusted to shift an auction earlier and use Cash Management Bills to manage cash mismatches.
The Government maintained the published first-half market borrowing amounts, rescheduled a dated-securities auction to an earlier week to modulate cash flows, and directed that temporary cash mismatches be managed by issuance of Cash Management Bills.

Retrospective amendment validates show cause notices issued by specified customs officers, securing revenue and settling pending proceedings.
A retrospective amendment is proposed to recognise specified customs officers as proper officers for assessment, thereby validating Show Cause Notices these officers issued and addressing a judicial ruling that restricted notice issuing competence to officers expressly assigned assessment and re assessment functions in the import jurisdiction, with the stated aim of protecting revenue and settling pending proceedings.

Benami transaction prohibition expands offences and imposes imprisonment, fines and property confiscation for transactions to defeat law.
The Bill replaces the 1988 Act with a comprehensive regime defining benami transaction and benami property, excluding coparcener-held HUF property and fiduciary holdings, and treating acquisitions in specified close relatives' names as non-prohibited benami transactions. It penalises benami transactions entered into to defeat law, evade statutory dues or avoid creditors by subjecting beneficial owners, benamidars and abettors to imprisonment and fine, and empowers an Adjudicating Authority to confiscate benami property after affording a hearing.

Acquisition under State Bank of India Act: approval secured to absorb a weak subsidiary and integrate its branches.
Approval was granted for the acquisition of SBICI Bank by State Bank of India under section 35(2) of the State Bank of India Act, following board and regulatory approval of a Scheme of Acquisition; a draft order is to be notified in the Gazette to effect the absorption of SBICI's two branches and integrate its operations into the main bank.

Infrastructure Loan Agreement enables Karnataka highway upgrades and institutional capacity building under multilateral financing.
A loan agreement between the Government of India and the Asian Development Bank finances the Karnataka State Highway Improvement Project to rehabilitate and upgrade identified state highways and related structures, including upgrading roads to two lanes, construction of bypasses, strengthening and building bridges and drainage, and supervising civil works. The package supports establishment and operation of the Planning and Road Asset Management Centre (PRAMC) and includes a Capacity Development Technical Assistance to strengthen PWD capacity in asset management and road safety.

Tax reform driven partnership: advancing Direct Tax Code, GST consensus, and infrastructure fund guidelines to boost bilateral investment.
India and the United States agreed to deepen strategic and economic partnership by advancing tax and investment reforms: implementing the Direct Tax Code, building consensus for the Goods and Services Tax with state governments, and finalising regulatory guidance for an Infrastructure Debt Fund to expedite U.S. investment; both sides also committed to broaden cooperation across trade, infrastructure, business, defence and regional development.

FDI equity caps questioned as ownership control rules allow downstream investment to be treated as domestic, raising policy reform issues.
The paper analyses the evolution and instruments of India's FDI policy-equity caps, entry routes and conditionalities-and the 2009 redefinition separating ownership from control, which treats downstream investments by resident owned and resident controlled entities as domestic; it highlights resulting expanded equity funding space for Indian firms, potential circumvention of sectoral caps via cascading structures, arbitrage risks, and poses consultative questions on the continued relevance of caps versus sectoral regulatory conditions.

Combat money laundering and terrorist financing: India strengthens laws, financial intelligence, and international cooperation to meet global standards.
India commits to comprehensive AML/CFT measures, aligning domestic law and institutions with international standards: the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (covering 156 predicate offences) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act address terror financing; a Financial Intelligence Unit and enhanced Directorate of Enforcement strengthen reporting and investigations; and legislative amendments are underway to meet FATF core and key recommendations while engaging in mutual evaluations, technical assistance, and regional cooperation.

Foreign direct investment approvals: multiple sectoral proposals cleared, with others deferred, rejected, and advised for automatic route.
Approval was granted for 31 foreign direct investment proposals across multiple sectors for actions including induction of foreign equity, share transfers, QIP placements, unit issues and ex post approvals; 18 proposals were deferred, three rejected, two advised for the automatic route, and one withdrawn, with approvals covering both fresh inflows and transactions involving no fresh inflow or share swaps.

Government securities auction: re-issue of three stocks via uniform-price bidding with reserved non-competitive allotment and bidding windows.
Re-issue auctions of three Government Stocks will be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India using the uniform price method; both competitive and non-competitive electronic bids must be submitted on the Negotiated Dealing System. Up to five per cent of each notified amount is reserved under the Scheme for Non-Competitive Bidding Facility. Auction results will be announced on the auction date and payment by successful bidders will occur on the designated settlement date. The re-issued Stocks are eligible for when-issued trading under RBI guidelines.

Exemption from filing income-tax returns: salaried taxpayers with only salary and limited savings interest exempt if employer discharged TDS.
Exemption from filing income-tax returns applies to salaried individuals whose total income consists only of salary and savings bank interest up to a limited amount, provided the employer has discharged the tax by TDS and the employee has reported PAN and interest to the employer. The exemption excludes those with multiple employers, losses under house property, non-savings interest, claims requiring employer not to allow certain deductions (notably most 80G donations), and salaried taxpayers with agricultural income above a small threshold. Refund claims require filing a return.

Tariff values notification fixes customs valuation for edible oils, brass scrap and poppy seeds from July 15.
A customs notification dated July 15, 2011 prescribes tariff values in US dollars per metric tonne for specified imports to serve as reference import valuations. The schedule fixes values for various edible oils (including crude palm oil, RBD palm oil, palmolein and crude soybean oil), brass scrap (all grades) and poppy seeds, noting that several edible oil entries remain unchanged and assigning specific values for brass scrap and poppy seeds.

Direct tax collections now constitute majority of central revenue, reflecting stronger resource mobilisation and administrative modernization.
Direct tax receipts formed over 56% of Central Government revenue in 2010-11, with direct tax collections reported at about Rs.4,46,000 crore, reflecting the Income Tax Department's enhanced role in resource mobilisation. The Government prioritises upgrading information technology and expanding e governance to improve taxpayer services and compliance, while using public outreach initiatives such as art workshops to build trust and make tax collection more acceptable to citizens.

Rupee symbol encoding established to standardise digital representation and keyboard input for interoperable use.
The Indian rupee symbol has been encoded in the Unicode Standard and the national ISCII character set to enable interoperable digital representation. A standard keyboard mapping is specified, with the symbol producible by the key combination Alt Gr + 4, and implementation guidance is published on the TDIL Centre portal for software vendors and users.

Money laundering and terrorist financing standards reviewed at regional annual meeting in Kochi, reinforcing cooperative implementation efforts.
The 14th Annual Meeting of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering, hosted by India in Kochi, brings senior regional officials together to evaluate APG members' progress in implementing international standards to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, while providing a platform for high level discussion, cooperation, and technical assistance and training to strengthen compliance and enforcement.

Condemnation of terrorist attack signals official sympathy and affirms confidence in economic and market resilience.
The Finance Minister condemned a cowardly terrorist attack on Mumbai citizens, expressed sorrow for those killed and injured, and reaffirmed solidarity with victims and their families. The statement also asserted confidence that Mumbai's resilience and national economic and market strength will overcome the incident and continue to show robust growth, signalling an intent to sustain market confidence and public calm.

Inflation management: government and central bank to coordinate policy measures to moderate rising wholesale price inflation.
Government and the Reserve Bank of India will jointly take appropriate measures to moderate inflation and restore price stability in response to elevated wholesale price inflation. The Minister identified higher administered fuel prices, seasonal factors, rising mineral and manufactured goods prices, and imported inflation as key drivers, while Food Articles inflation had stabilised and Primary and Manufactured inflation showed increases.

Direct transfer of subsidies expanded to include PDS reforms and Aadhaar-enabled food and kerosene transfers.
The Task Force's remit is extended to reform the Public Distribution System by identifying changes to systems, IT frameworks and supply chain management, recommending institutional mechanisms for an IT strategy, and examining Aadhaar-based solutions for direct transfer of food and kerosene subsidies to intended beneficiaries, with the Ministry of Food and Public Distribution providing secretarial assistance and a Joint Secretary as nodal officer.

PPPAC approval of toll based PPP road projects authorises BOT/DBFOT concessions under NHDP for multi lane upgrades.
PPPAC approved six toll based PPP road projects under specified NHDP phases, authorising BOT (Toll) and DBFOT (Toll) concession structures for multi lane upgrades across five states, and noting these approvals as part of the Commission's cumulative portfolio of PPP project clearances since 2006.