Public Private Partnership approval: PPPAC endorses road projects under BOT (Toll) and Hybrid Annuity procurement frameworks.
The Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) approved institutional clearances for central government road projects, endorsing procurement under BOT (Toll) and Hybrid Annuity Model frameworks, identifying sponsoring authorities and enabling them to proceed with downstream procurement, contract structuring, and implementation in accordance with PPP policy.

Foreign tax credit procedure proposed; draft rules open for stakeholder comments and public consultation.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes has proposed draft rules to prescribe the procedure for grant of Foreign Tax Credit under the Income tax Act's mechanisms for relief against tax paid outside India. The draft establishes the procedural framework and documentation requirements by which tax paid in a foreign country or specified territory may be credited or deducted against Indian income tax, and has been published for stakeholder comments and public consultation to inform final rulemaking.

Economic reform agenda: liberalisation and infrastructure investment to boost competitiveness and value added manufacturing.
Renewed policy emphasis on structural economic reforms targets enhanced competitiveness and investment-led growth through liberalisation, tax rationalisation, and infrastructure development. The statement highlights opening multiple sectors to foreign direct investment, reduction in corporate tax rates, progress toward a goods and services tax, and measures to lower costs of capital and logistics to reduce transaction costs and stimulate value added manufacturing. Expanded investment in transport and port infrastructure, rural infrastructure development, and rationalisation of government support and subsidies are presented as fiscal priorities to relieve stresses on economic fundamentals.

Financial Action Task Force must ensure implementation of anti terrorist financing laws and act against states supporting terrorism.
The Finance Minister urged Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to ensure effective implementation of laws against terrorist financing, to take action against states sponsoring or hosting terrorist infrastructure, and to address offshore tax evasion and avoidance; the note also records progress on FATCA information sharing, concerns about sluggish global growth and financial headwinds, calls for strengthened global financial safety nets and coordinated policy, and reports that the New Development Bank has commenced operations approving initial renewable energy projects including an India on lending facility.

Trade policy coordination urged to revive global trade while avoiding protectionism and competitive devaluations through coordinated fiscal and financial measures.
Global growth is fragile and requires coordinated policy action to revive trade; countries must avoid trade protectionism and competitive devaluations. Monetary policy has limited pass-through, prompting a re-evaluation of fiscal policy space with a focus on public investment. The global financial safety net should be augmented to address asymmetries affecting emerging markets. Structural reform work should be country-led, balancing domestic priorities with analysis of cross-border spillovers; removing vulnerabilities and coordinated member action are necessary to support sustainable growth.

Cross-border tax cooperation expanded through APAs, FATCA information sharing, and joint tax audits to strengthen enforcement and transparency.
The Partnership advanced bilateral tax cooperation by resolving disputes, accepting Advance Pricing Agreements, and expanding information sharing under the FATCA Inter-Governmental Agreement toward full reciprocity, while committing to joint tax audits and cross-border tax examinations. It continued financial-regulatory exchange on banking reform, capital markets, and payment bank regulation, and executed a Terms of Reference for technical assistance on public debt management. The Initiative also coordinated investment mobilization for infrastructure including support for the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, and enhanced AML/CFT information sharing.

Taxability of government services to businesses expanded, with specified exemptions and small assessee relief from compliance.
Services by Government or a local authority to business entities were made taxable from 1 April 2016, capturing any activity for consideration where payment constitutes quid pro quo. Exemptions include services to government entities, passport/visa/driving licence and similar documents, low value services and an exemption for small assessees; allocation of natural resources to farmers, Panchayat functions and Twelfth Schedule municipal services are excluded. Taxes and cesses are not part of taxable value; fines, penalties and liquidated damages are not leviable; certain statutory registration and safety testing services are specifically exempted.

Exchange of information: bilateral tax information sharing and double taxation relief for international air transport enterprises.
The two agreements create a bilateral tax cooperation framework: one establishes exchange of information on all taxes, including banking information, to prevent tax evasion and avoidance; the other grants double taxation relief for income from international air transport by allocating taxing rights to the state of the enterprise and includes a mutual agreement procedure to resolve interpretive or application issues.

Detection of undisclosed foreign income strengthened by a special multi agency information sharing mechanism to combat tax avoidance.
The statement reports Government measures to detect Undisclosed Foreign Income identified via investigative journalism and foreign information exchanges, noting trace, assessment, penalty and prosecution actions taken, and announces a special multi agency group to monitor information flow and obtain data from domestic and foreign sources while endorsing multilateral measures including the BEPS initiative to address tax havens and cross border tax avoidance.

Account security enhanced: E-filing Vault requires stronger multi-factor authentication options for login, password reset and recovery.
The E-filing Vault enables taxpayers to require additional authentication-Aadhaar-linked OTP, net-banking login, or Digital Signature Certificate (DSC)-for future logins, preventing access even if user id and password were shared. The same higher-security options can be mandated for password reset, so no third party can reset a password despite knowledge of secret answers or one-time passwords; further EVC validation options (ATM, bank account, demat account) will be introduced. Taxpayers are advised to use strong passwords and opt into the Vault for enhanced security.

Taxpayer services expansion improves refund processing and urges use of electronic verification to speed tax refunds.
Record improvement in delivery of taxpayer services in FY 2015-16 was driven by increased electronic filing and centralized processing at the CPC Bengaluru, which processed a substantially larger volume of returns and issued a marked increase in automated refunds, most dispatched within thirty days; taxpayers are advised to verify ITR V submission or use electronic verification to expedite refund processing.

Rectification under section 154: e filing portal enables online filing, correction types, and status tracking for taxpayers.
The e filing portal enables online filing and tracking of rectification requests under section 154, including specific request types for tax credit mismatch, data corrections, and reprocessing.

Fiscal deficit control reinforced as targets met and fiscal consolidation remains government priority.
The Government reports the fiscal deficit for 2015 16 is expected to be within target and reiterates commitment to fiscal consolidation. Tax receipts are on track to meet Revised Estimates once bank scrolls are accounted for. The disinvestment target has been achieved and plan expenditure for 2015 16 exceeds the Budget Estimate and the prior year's actual outlay, reflecting a consolidated fiscal stance.

Rectification under section 154 allows taxpayers to submit and track online corrections for tax credit and data-entry mismatches.
Taxpayers may correct mistakes apparent from record by submitting a rectification request under section 154 via the Income Tax Department's e filing portal, which provides options to correct tax credit/TDS mismatches using pre filled details, to correct other schedule data or omissions with stated reasons, or to request reprocessing where processing errors (such as non reporting of TDS) have occurred; a user manual and status tracking facility are available through the portal.

External debt rise driven by long term commercial borrowings and NRI deposits, altering currency mix and reserve cover.
External debt at end December 2015 was US$ 480.2 billion, rising over end March 2015 primarily due to increases in long term debt-notably commercial borrowings and NRI deposits-while short term debt declined. Long term debt accounted for about 83% of the total and Government versus non Government shares were about 19% and 81% respectively. The US dollar remained the dominant currency, concessional debt formed a small share, and foreign exchange reserves provided substantial cover with a lower short term debt to reserves ratio than at end March 2015.

Investment promotion: call for Australian superannuation funds to increase exposure to India, strengthening bilateral economic engagement.
The Finance Minister called for Australian superannuation and future funds to increase exposure to India, urged Australian businesses to raise investment allocations for better returns, and sought Australian experience on implementing a national GST; both sides agreed to deepen trade and investment collaboration.

Taxability of interest income: taxpayers must disclose all taxable interest in returns even if exemption declarations were filed.
Interest credited or received on deposits is taxable and must be disclosed in the taxpayer's return unless exempt under Section 10. Form 26AS shows payments with tax deducted while payers also report payments without deduction. Taxpayers who filed non-deduction declarations must nevertheless include taxable interest where total income exceeds the exemption and should file or revise returns for the relevant assessment years by the filing deadline to avoid penalties.

Public Private Partnership approvals clear four National Highway projects, enabling procurement and implementation steps.
Public Private Project Appraisal Committee recommended clearance of four National Highway projects under the PPP framework, approving projects in Maharashtra, Punjab and two in Bihar through institutional appraisal mechanisms that assess viability, public private allocation of responsibilities, and readiness for procurement and financial close.

Public debt management: government issued dated securities and elongated maturities, reducing rollover risk and reshaping the debt profile.
The Government issued dated securities across ten tranches and launched the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme in Q3 FY16, pursuing debt maturity elongation including a long term security to raise the weighted average maturity of new issuance. Public Debt rose modestly quarter on quarter with internal and marketable securities dominating the stock; cash balances were surplus, liquidity tightened late in the quarter, and residual short term maturities imply low rollover risk helped by planned buybacks and switches. Secondary market outright trading volumes and turnover declined while ten year benchmark yields traded in a defined range.

Taxation of e-commerce: committee report outlines direct tax issues and informs legislative approach to e-commerce business models
Taxation of e-commerce: a government-appointed Committee on Taxation mapped e-commerce business models, identified associated direct tax issues and proposed approaches for taxing cross-border and domestic digital transactions. The Report synthesises identified direct tax challenges, outlines policy and administrative options, surveys recent international developments, and was submitted to the Government for consideration in the Finance Bill; it is published on the Income Tax Department website.