Double taxation avoidance: revised treaty reallocates taxing rights and strengthens information exchange and anti abuse safeguards.
The revised bilateral tax Agreement reallocates taxing rights by providing source based taxation of capital gains, residence based taxation of shipping income, service related permanent establishment rules, profit adjustments for associated enterprises under the arm's length principle, and rationalised treatment of Dividends, Interest, Royalties and Fees for Technical Services, while adding provisions for effective exchange of information, assistance in tax collection and a limitation of benefits clause to restrict treaty access to genuine residents.

Exchange rate notification: amendment sets revised Swiss franc import and export rates affecting customs valuation.
Amendment under statutory delegation revises Schedule I by substituting Serial No. 15 to set distinct import and export exchange rates for the Swiss franc, and specifies the date from which those rates shall apply.

Undisclosed foreign income legislation strengthens penalties and international information exchange to deter offshore tax evasion.
The Government has adopted a multi-pronged regulatory and enforcement framework to address undisclosed domestic and foreign income, including the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015 with enhanced penalties and criminal sanctions, constitution of a Special Investigation Team, targeted enforcement in high-impact cases, strengthening information collection and IT capacity, pursuing Automatic Exchange of Information, renegotiating and expanding DTAAs/TIEAs, and using treaty and non-governmental information sources to combat tax evasion.

Education loan interest deduction under Section 80E available for interest paid, limited to a prescribed assessment-period.
Section 80E allows an individual to deduct interest paid on an education loan from a financial institution or approved charitable institution for higher education of the borrower, spouse, children, or a student for whom the borrower is guardian; the deduction applies only to interest and operates from the assessment year when interest is first paid for a prescribed limited period or until interest is fully paid.

Clarity in tax laws: High-level committee invites industry stakeholders to present views to guide regulatory clarification.
A High Level Committee was established to engage trade and industry to obtain stakeholder views and suggestions aimed at achieving clarity in tax laws; it invites entities, associations and other stakeholders to request interactions and submit representations via designated email or postal channels and operates during published working hours to facilitate participation.

Enforcement of anti-money laundering measures tightened to trace, attach and prosecute cross-border illicit fund transfers.
The Government has intensified enforcement against illicit cross-border fund transfers by strengthening investigative, intelligence-sharing and asset-restraint mechanisms under the Foreign Exchange Management Act and Prevention of Money Laundering Act, focusing on tracing, attaching and prosecuting laundered assets and concluding adjudication and prosecution proceedings arising from suspected foreign exchange violations and money laundering.

Tariff value notification updated for specified edible oils, metals and agricultural imports, revising customs valuation benchmarks.
The Central Board of Excise & Customs, exercising powers under section 14(2) of the Customs Act, 1962, has substituted TABLE-1, TABLE-2 and TABLE-3 of the cited notification to prescribe revised US dollar tariff values for specified imported goods, including various palm oils and palmolein products, crude soybean oil, brass scrap, poppy seeds, areca nuts, and unit values for gold and silver where specified benefits are availed.

Exchange rate amendment revises import and export rupee conversion rates for specified foreign currencies under Section 14 authority.
Amendment under Section 14 replaces Schedule I entries in Notification No. 38/2015 CUSTOMS (N.T.), substituting exchange rates for Danish Kroner, Euro, Norwegian Kroner, Pound Sterling and Swedish Kroner with separate rates for imported goods and for export goods, effective from 1st May, 2015.

Social security schemes expand affordable insurance and guaranteed pension access via bank auto-debit and government co-contribution.
Three bank linked schemes extend affordable social security: PMSBY offers annual renewable accidental death and disability cover for ages 18-70 via participating general insurers; PMJJBY offers annual renewable life cover for ages 18-50 via LIC or other life insurers; APY provides a guaranteed fixed minimum pension for subscribers entering at ages 18-40 with contributions until age 60 and limited government co contribution for eligible non members of statutory schemes and non taxpayers.

Financial stability review addresses account aggregation, bank capital requirements and market deepening measures including credit default swaps and corporate bonds.
Review of financial stability risks and regulatory measures focused on global and domestic factors affecting systemic resilience. Deliberations targeted an account aggregation facility, supervision of capital requirements for banks, and initiatives to deepen the credit default swap market and the corporate bond market, and reviewed the functioning of Technical Groups.

Approval for overseas charitable disbursements fast tracked for earthquake relief; expedited processing and document guidance published online.
Fast track processing applies to applications by voluntary organisations and trusts seeking approval under section 11(1)(c) to apply charitable income outside India for earthquake relief in Nepal. The Department will endeavour to process completed applications on an expedited timetable and has published the list of required supporting documents on the Income Tax Department website.

DTAA claims for FIIs to be decided within one month, streamlining treaty benefit determinations for securities income.
Officers must decide Foreign Institutional Investors' treaty benefit claims under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements relating to income from securities within one month from the date the claim is filed, as an administrative directive to ensure prompt resolution of DTAA entitlement disputes.

Use of regional languages: banks must provide trilingual documents and communications to enhance customer access.
Banks must adopt regional languages alongside English and Hindi for customer-facing materials and communications, including indicator boards, business posters in semi-urban and rural branches, customer booklets, and transactional communications. Printed retail-customer materials such as account forms, pay-in slips and passbooks must be trilingual; cheque forms are to be printed in Hindi and English while customers may write cheques in Hindi, English or the regional language; branches must provide drop-box and over-the-counter cheque acknowledgements and display this in all three languages.

Separation of Chairman and Managing Director roles: non executive chair sets policy while MD&CEO manages daily operations.
Approval was given to separate Chairman and Managing Director posts in Public Sector Banks, creating a non executive Chairman responsible for overall policy direction and an executive MD&CEO responsible for day to day management, to introduce checks and balances and enhance board level accountability.

Transparency in government procurement: mandatory portal publication plus phased e-procurement to broaden online tendering and disclosure.
The Central Public Procurement Portal is designated as the mandatory repository for publishing tender enquiries, corrigenda and bid award details by all Central Government ministries, subordinate offices, Central Public Sector Enterprises and autonomous/statutory bodies; a phased mandate requires these entities to commence electronic procurement for procurements above progressively lower value thresholds on specified commencement dates to extend online tendering and enhance procurement transparency and efficiency.

Insurance coverage for disabled persons recognised subject to insurer underwriting and supported by social security schemes.
Insurers may provide medical and life insurance to mentally challenged and physically handicapped persons, but coverage, acceptance and premium depend on each insurer's underwriting assessment and board-approved policies; there are no specific Authority regulations mandating terms. Government schemes and IRDA's rural and social sector obligations complement private provision by designating persons with disabilities among social sector lives and offering targeted medical and social security insurance support.

Increase in registered income-tax assessees reported, reflecting returns and TDS-recorded taxpayers and provisional growth over recent years.
Increase in the number of income-tax assessees is reported across three assessment years, based on the sum of income-tax returns entered in the system and cases where tax was deducted at source though the taxpayer had not filed a return; one year's figure is noted as provisional and the data was disclosed in a ministerial written reply to a parliamentary question.

TDS on recurring deposits remains not deducted for Post Office Recurring Deposit Scheme, affirmed in government statement.
The current tax position is that TDS is not deducted on the Post Office Recurring Deposit Scheme. This non-deduction stance was communicated by the Ministry of Finance in a written parliamentary reply, identifying the operative tax treatment for deposits under the Post Office Recurring Deposit Scheme without indicating an affirmative change to withholding obligations.

Interest rate deregulation lets banks set term deposit rates with board approval; senior citizen schemes may offer higher fixed rates.
Banks may set term deposit interest rates freely subject to Board approval; they may also institute fixed deposit schemes for resident senior citizens offering higher fixed rates, which do not apply to non resident deposits. Recent policy rate cuts have led several public sector banks to reduce median term deposit rates, illustrating transmission of monetary easing into deposit pricing.

Social security insurance schemes provide standardized bank-linked accidental and life cover to eligible savers with subscriber-paid premiums.
Two government social security insurance schemes provide annually renewable accidental death and disability cover and life insurance cover to eligible saving bank account holders. The accidental cover is offered through public sector and other general insurers, and the life cover through LIC and other life insurers, each on standardized terms requiring insurer approvals and bank tie-ups. Subscribers pay the premiums and the schemes rely on bank-insurer arrangements for enrollment and administration.