FATCA and CRS implementation requires reporting financial institutions to identify and report reportable accounts under new rules.
Implementation of FATCA and the Common Reporting Standard is effected by an Inter Governmental Agreement and India's accession to the multilateral agreement, with domestic amendments to the Income-tax Act and Rules introducing Rules 114F-114H and a prescribed reporting form to require Reporting Financial Institutions to identify, maintain and report information on reportable accounts; a Guidance Note was issued and subsequently updated to assist RFIs in complying with due diligence and reporting procedures.

PAN quoting requirement for specified high-value transactions amended to raise monetary thresholds, tightening third-party reporting obligations.
Amendment increases monetary limits triggering mandatory PAN quotation to improve reporting of higher value transactions while moderating compliance burdens; PAN remains mandatory for sale or purchase of goods and services irrespective of payment mode when transactions exceed the prescribed threshold (previously two lakhs). The amendments were notified by S.O. No. 3545(E) dated 30th December, 2015 and take effect from 1st January, 2016.

Scrutiny assessment procedures revised to require specific enquiries, limited hearings and electronic communication to reduce personal interface.
CBDT directed assessing officers to be specific in enquiries, accompany initial notices with a specific questionnaire, confine limited scrutiny to identified points, limit hearings, and make any additions or disallowances only after observing the process of natural justice; conversion to complete scrutiny requires Principal Commissioner/Commissioner approval. A pilot e-mail based scrutiny assessment for select non-corporate cases has been initiated and officers must include e-mail addresses and phone numbers in communications to facilitate electronic interface and paperless proceedings.

External debt rise driven by long-term commercial borrowings and NRI deposits, affecting debt composition and reserve cover.
India's external debt at end-September 2015 rose due chiefly to increased long-term external debt, particularly commercial borrowings and NRI deposits; long-term debt formed the majority of the stock, sovereign debt was a smaller share, currency composition was dominated by the US dollar, concessional debt remained a small proportion, and foreign exchange reserves provided substantial cover with short-term debt to reserves ratio slightly lower than at end-March 2015.