Mandatory PAN quoting for high-value transactions expands reporting requirements and raises thresholds for specified dealings.
Mandatory quoting of PAN is expanded under amended Income tax Rules to require PAN for purchase or sale of any goods or services exceeding the revised transaction threshold, while certain monetary limits for other specified transactions (including immovable property, hotel/restaurant bills, time deposits, and shares of unlisted companies) have been increased and applicability extended to additional institutions; amendments take effect from 1 January 2016.

Appeal thresholds for tax department appeals raised, reshaping litigation scope and administrative review for taxpayers.
Central Board of Direct Taxes adopted measures to ease compliance and reduce litigation by clarifying Minimum Alternate Tax applicability for foreign investors and excluding MAT for foreign companies without a permanent establishment, notified transfer pricing rules adopting a range concept and multi year data, simplified self declaration procedures for lower deduction, launched an online pilot to reconcile prepaid tax mismatches, issued Income Computation and Disclosures Standards, addressed tax treatment of offshore rupee bonds, expedited small refunds, and raised departmental appeal thresholds while forming a committee to simplify the Income Tax framework.

Appeal filing thresholds raised, enabling withdrawal of lower-value departmental appeals and collegium review of higher-value cases.
Revised monetary limits for departmental appeals increase the thresholds for instituting appeals and are made retrospective to pending matters; pending appeals below the new thresholds may be withdrawn or not pressed. A regional collegium of two senior officers is mandated to consider withdrawal of departmental appeals above the revised thresholds where no question of law is involved, the issue is settled by the Department, or subsequent amendment makes the appeal irrelevant.

Financial inclusion expanding via universal basic bank accounts, microcredit tiers, and bank delivered pension and insurance access.
Department of Financial Services programmes deliver operational frameworks for financial inclusion and social security: PMJDY provides Basic Saving Bank Accounts with overdraft and RuPay debit cards, deploys Bank Mitrs with e-KYC and interoperable payments to cover Sub-Service Areas, and reports large-scale account openings, Aadhaar seeding, lower zero-balance rates, and use for wage and subsidy transfers. PMMY offers tiered microcredit (Shishu, Kishore, Tarun) via banks, MFIs and NBFCs with a MUDRA Card, reporting disbursement volumes and targeted borrower composition. APY, PMSBY and PMJJBY provide pension, accident insurance and life insurance through CBS-enabled banks with enrolment and claim statistics.

Exchange rate policy: monitoring nominal and real currency movements to calibrate measures supporting macroeconomic stability.
Exchange rate movements affect sectors differently based on export/import elasticities and relative prices; international commodity prices and nominal exchange rate shifts influence import costs, trade and current account balances, and macroeconomic stability. The economic impact is better measured by the real effective exchange rate (REER), a weighted geometric average of nominal bilateral rates adjusted for relative price differentials, and authorities monitor nominal and real exchange rates to calibrate policy and regulation.

Repo rate reduction aims to boost investment and consumption and manage inflation over the medium term.
Repo rate reductions since January 2015 are presented as a monetary policy measure aimed at stimulating investment and consumption and managing inflation within a comfortable band, with the recognised effect that changes in the policy rate take time to transmit through the economy and are intended to secure sustainable medium term growth.

Tax dispute resolution: Government rejects investor treaty claims but appoints arbitrators to protect national interests.
Tax dispute resolution is available through statutory contestation under the Income-tax Act, settlement before the Settlement Commission, or treaty relief via the Mutual Agreement Procedure. Some companies have served notices under BIPAs alleging treaty breaches by domestic tax proceedings and seeking international arbitration; the Government rejects those allegations and the treaty-based contention but has appointed arbitrators to protect India's interests.

Tax administration accountability strengthened by revised APAR to enhance assessment quality, widen tax base and improve taxpayer services.
The Government introduced a revised appraisal instrument, the Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR), for tax officials incorporating accountability parameters linked to assessment performance and tax base expansion, with the stated aim of enhancing administrative efficiency, assessment quality, revenue coverage and taxpayer services.

National Savings Schemes maintain increased collections and remain widely available while no new small-savings policy is proposed for seniors.
Thirteen National Savings Schemes, including various Post Office deposit products, National Savings Certificates (with the IX Issue to be discontinued effective 20.12.2015), Kisan Vikas Patra, Public Provident Fund, Sukanya Samriddhi and Senior Citizens Savings Schemes, are available to all Indian nationals in rural and urban areas primarily via the Post Office network; gross collections have risen and the Government has no proposal for a new small savings policy for senior citizens or weaker sections.

Exchange of information standards expanded to include bank data, enabling mutual tax collection assistance and authorized information sharing.
The Protocol modernises bilateral tax cooperation by embedding exchange of information standards to include bank information and information without domestic tax interest, permitting sharing with law enforcement only with the providing competent authority's authorization; it also provides for assistance in the collection of revenue claims and exempts source-country taxation of interest on debt-claims insured by Government or Government-owned financial institutions.

Pension coverage expansion urged: enrol unorganised workers in Atal Pension Yojana to secure government co-contribution before deadline.
Priority is placed on expanding pension scheme reach by integrating State Autonomous Bodies and unorganised workers into the National Pension System. The regulatory emphasis calls for State Governments to increase subscriber coverage, strengthen nodal office processes, ensure timely remittance of contributions, achieve full IRA compliance, update subscriber records, reduce coverage gaps and subscriber grievances, and to maximise enrolment in the Atal Pension Yojana to secure government co contribution within the enrolment window.

Defective return treatment for foreign portfolio investors: SEBI registration, no permanent establishment and required disclosures avoid defect notices.
Returns of FIIs/FPIs will not be treated as defective if the filer is registered with SEBI, has no permanent establishment or place of business in India, and has provided the basic information required under the defective-return information requirement when business income exists; CPC Bengaluru will process AY2015-16 returns with SEBI registration numbers, and FIIs/FPIs for earlier years may submit missing details via the e-filing portal in response to existing defective-return notices.

Pre-filling of TDS schedule simplifies online rectification, reducing data-entry errors and easing taxpayer compliance burden.
The tax administration introduced pre-filling of TDS schedule on the e filing portal to streamline online rectification requests for incorrect TDS details. Taxpayers no longer need to re-enter the entire TDS schedule, a change designed to reduce omissions and processing delays caused by incomplete rectification submissions and to ease the compliance burden for correcting TDS mismatches.

Suspension of tax collection during MAP proceedings prevents immediate double taxation while cross border disputes are resolved.
A bilateral Memorandum of Understanding provides for suspension of tax collection during the pendency of Mutual Agreement Procedure cases between India and South Korea, staying collection of contested assessments for taxpayers of both jurisdictions pending MAP resolution; it expressly includes transfer pricing disputes under the revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement.

Fiscal consolidation balanced with increased capital and social expenditure urged; states directed to use enhanced devolution for development outcomes.
The Conference prioritized balancing increased capital and social sector expenditure with fiscal consolidation, urging States to use enhanced tax devolution for capital investment and to link expenditure to outcomes. It advocated financial inclusion, Direct Benefit Transfers, resolution of agricultural credit distress, control of unauthorised deposit-taking, convergence of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, reforms in accounts classification, and improved debt, borrowing and cash management to implement Fourteenth Finance Commission recommendations.

Government debt management: H1 borrowings of Rs. 3,51,000 crore; issuance focused on longer maturities and active cash management.
Gross market borrowings in H1 FY16 were Rs. 3,51,000 crore with Q2 dated securities issuance of Rs. 1,71,000 crore and net market borrowings of Rs. 2,14,071 crore after repayments; primary issuance focused on elongating maturity (WAM 16.46 years, cut off yield 7.96%). Treasury bill operations produced gross issuance of Rs. 250,671 crore and a net T bill outflow of Rs. 10,930 crore for cash management. Outstanding public debt rose provisionally to Rs. 5,412,171 crore with internal debt 92.1% and rollover risk assessed as low given residual maturities and planned buybacks/switches.

Nodal officer appointments and streamlined insurer procedures required for rapid settlement of flood-related insurance claims.
Mandated appointment of nodal officers, organisation of joint awareness camps coordinated by United India Insurance, deputation of surveyors (including from neighbouring states), simplification of survey formats, and delegation of additional financial authority to field functionaries to enable speedy local claim approvals; IRDA issued parallel instructions for private insurers to appoint nodal officers and ensure expeditious claim disposal.

Intergovernmental finance coordination mobilises state finance secretaries to align budget and financial sector priorities through federal consultation.
Intergovernmental finance coordination convenes state finance secretaries in a one day conference chaired by central expenditure officials to provide a forum for dialogue between the Department of Expenditure, Department of Financial Services and Department of Economic Affairs and state finance leadership. The agenda emphasizes Budget and Plan Expenditure, Banking and Financial Sector issues, Social Sector Expenditure, Capital Expenditure and growth, aiming to align fiscal priorities and administrative coordination between centre and states.

Expedited tax refunds ordered for pending small-value returns to be processed promptly, excluding cases selected for scrutiny.
Directions instruct field formations and the Central Processing Centre to expedite issuance of pending income-tax refunds below specified value for assessment years 2013-14 and 2014-15 in all cases not selected for scrutiny, prioritising completion of refund processing as early as possible.

Extension of due date for deposit of tax deducted and collected at source shifts statutory deposit deadline to a later date.
An administrative order extended the deposit deadline for tax withheld at source and tax collected at source for liabilities of November 2015: obligations otherwise due on 7th December 2015 were postponed to 20th December 2015 for deductors and collectors located in the State of Tamil Nadu, the measure being taken under the central authority to relax procedural time limits and published on the department's website.