Ease of doing business reforms driving improved global competitiveness, reflecting stronger macroeconomic fundamentals and fiscal consolidation.
Improved global competitiveness reflects policy measures strengthening macroeconomic fundamentals, advancing structural reforms, and enhancing business sentiment through steps to facilitate ease of doing business. The upward movement in the Global Competitiveness Index is attributed to sustained government actions addressing budget and current account deficits and implementing reforms to reduce regulatory frictions for firms.

Cardholder security obligations require safeguarding card and PIN; bank liability limited for system malfunctions thereby.
Consolidated instructions require cardholders to keep cards and access means such as PINs secure and prohibit recording PINs in any intelligible or accessible form. Banks are responsible for direct losses from system malfunctions within their control but are not liable for losses from technical breakdowns apparent to the cardholder. Bank liability for defective or non execution of transactions is limited to the principal and loss of interest, and banks may consider photo identification or other advanced methods to reduce misuse.

Contingent Reserve Arrangement establishment provides short term liquidity support and a safety net preserving policy autonomy.
The Governing Council approved the Contingent Reserve Arrangement's Governing Council Procedural Rules and Standing Committee Procedural Rules at its first meeting, with India represented by its Finance Minister and RBI Governor as alternate. Decisions were taken by consensus. The Arrangement is intended to provide short term liquidity support and mutual financial assistance to strengthen financial stability, ensure equity and inclusiveness among signatories, and offer a backup safety net that reduces external constraints on domestic policy decisions.

Prosecution thresholds revised to prioritise enforcement on higher value tax evasion and serious customs contraventions.
Revision of prosecution thresholds and guidelines raises monetary limits for arrest, bail and prosecution to focus enforcement on larger evasion cases: Central Excise and Service Tax evasion and wrongful input tax credit use now use a Rs. 1 crore benchmark; customs import mis declaration and fraudulent drawback/exemption cases likewise adopt a Rs. 1 crore threshold. Lower thresholds continue to apply for unauthorised baggage importation and certain smuggling, while no lower limit applies for specified grave contraventions such as counterfeit currency, weapons, explosives, antiques, art treasures and endangered species.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana credit expansion increases microloans and grievance monitoring while introducing complementary credit and equity funds.
Push to Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana mobilized public and regional banks to expand access to MUDRA loans for weaker sections and aspiring micro entrepreneurs, reporting aggregate account openings and disbursements and noting limitations in centralized data on loan rejections.

Gold Monetization Scheme encourages household gold deposits to reduce import reliance and mobilize domestic gold for productive use.
The Government launched the Gold Monetization Scheme, Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme and Indian Gold Coin to mobilize household and institutional gold, reduce reliance on gold imports, and put domestic gold into productive use; the Gold Monetization Scheme does not provide tax amnesty but offers tax exemptions comparable to the earlier Gold Deposit Scheme, and formal guidelines are issued by RBI and by Government Gazette notifications.

Corporate Social Responsibility rules: CSR expenditure generally lacks specific income tax exemptions; listed activities may qualify if conditions met.
The Ministry prescribes disclosure of CSR fund utilisation under the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014. There is no general income tax exemption for CSR expenditure under the Income Tax Act, 1961, although certain CSR listed activities may qualify for tax relief under relevant income tax provisions if specified conditions are met. The Ministry administers the Companies Act and does not address corporate employment policy, priority sector, or investment policy; state wise corporate growth data are provided in an Annex.

Automated mismatch resolution: online taxpayer responses enable closure of discrepancies and reduce compliance burden via e-filing notifications
The e-Sahyog initiative provides an online mechanism to identify and notify taxpayers of mismatches between their income-tax return and third-party data sources; taxpayers receive alerts, log into the e-filing portal to view mismatch details and submit online responses, and where responses are satisfactory the issues are processed as closed with electronic status updates and notifications.

Medical treatment deduction limits for specified diseases expanded, with higher caps for senior and very senior citizens.
Deduction rules allow taxpayers to claim medical treatment expenses for a defined list of serious illnesses, including cancer, AIDS and hemophilia, with higher deduction ceilings for senior and very senior citizens. A separate health insurance premium deduction is available, with increased allowances for senior citizens and a specific medical expenditure allowance for very senior citizens without insurance; both reliefs are governed by eligibility criteria tied to age and the list of qualifying diseases.

Minimum alternative tax in foreign portfolio investment clarified: MAT not to apply to FPIs without Indian permanent establishment.
The principal issue concerns the scope of the Minimum Alternative Tax under section 115JB in relation to foreign institutional/portfolio investors. The Government has accepted a Committee recommendation and proposes a legislative amendment to provide that MAT will not apply to FIIs/FPIs that do not have a place of business or permanent establishment in India for the period prior to the legislative cutoff.

Tax avoidance prevention: BEPS-aligned measures and GAAR curb treaty-driven capital gains shifting in cross-border investments.
India's anti-avoidance strategy combines participation in the OECD/G20 BEPS project to prevent treaty misuse and the statutory introduction of General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) in Chapter X-A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, together with negotiations to amend DTAAs that presently allocate capital gains taxation on equity shares solely to the investor's residence, thereby addressing incentives for treaty-driven routing of investments.

Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana promotes long-term dedicated savings for girl children with government-backed maturity terms and public reporting of account uptake.
The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana is a government-backed small-savings scheme for girl children, notified on 2 December 2014. Accounts opened under the scheme carry a maturity period of 21 years. By 31 October 2015 the scheme had completed one year and recorded substantial uptake with a large number of accounts opened and cumulative deposits collected, evidencing early mobilisation of savings under the notified framework.

Credit deposit ratio targets require banks to raise rural and semi urban CDR and form district committees for low CDR areas.
The Reserve Bank directs banks to target a 60% Credit Deposit Ratio for rural and semi urban branches nationwide, to avoid wide inter regional disparities, and mandates that districts with CDR below 40% convene a Special Sub committee of the District Level Consultative Committee to prepare, monitor and implement Monitorable Action Plans to improve credit deployment; banks' lending and deposit activity remains governed by board policies and RBI guidelines, and the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Yojana has been notified for operation through banks.

Exchange of information expanded under India-Japan tax protocol, enabling bank data sharing and mutual collection assistance.
Protocol amending the Double Taxation Convention expands exchange of information to include bank and other tax-related data without requiring domestic tax interest, permits onward disclosure to law enforcement with competent-authority authorisation, establishes mutual assistance in recovery of revenue claims, and provides a source-country exemption for interest on debt-claims insured by Government or Government-owned financial institutions.

Tariff value amendment fixes revised import valuation benchmarks for specified oils, metals, scrap and agricultural commodities.
The Central Board of Excise & Customs, under Section 14(2) of the Customs Act, 1962, amends Notification No. 36/2001 Customs (N.T.) by substituting TABLE 1, TABLE 2 and TABLE 3 to prescribe revised tariff values in US dollars for specified imports, including palm oil and fractions, crude soybean oil, brass scrap, poppy seeds, areca nuts, and gold and silver covered by specified notification entries, thereby fixing benchmark values for customs valuation of those goods.

Administrative continuity: Acting Chairperson appointed while former Chairperson receives contractual Adviser on Tax Reforms role.
Shri A.K. Jain, Member, CBDT will discharge the duties and responsibilities of the post of Chairperson in addition to his own duties until further orders following Ms. Anita Kapur's superannuation. Ms. Kapur is appointed on contract as Adviser on Tax Reforms for six months or earlier, with Terms of Reference to advise the Revenue Department on referred files, examine tax reform proposals using data, assist the committee re drafting certain Income Tax Act sections, and present policy views on direct taxation.

Official development assistance loan funds metro infrastructure projects and reinforces bilateral economic cooperation and strategic partnership.
An official development assistance loan from Japan finances Chennai and Ahmedabad metro projects via bilateral loan agreements between India's Department of Economic Affairs and the Government of Japan, providing concessional foreign financing for metro rail infrastructure to support urban transit improvements and environmental objectives.

Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme gains strong retail uptake; measures strengthen Gold Monetisation Scheme and clarify tax exemptions.
The Government launched the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme to convert retail investment in physical gold into a government bond alternative and issued the first tranche through banks and post offices, attracting substantial retail subscriptions. The Gold Monetisation Scheme provides deposit and monetisation routes via CPTCs and licensed refiners; measures to boost participation include expanding CPTC registration, inviting jewellers to act as CPTCs with refiner tie ups, easing refiner experience requirements, permitting direct deposits to refiners, reimbursing banks' operational fees on actuals, clarifying tax exemptions, and continuing public awareness campaigns.

Advance Pricing Agreements provide transfer pricing certainty; CBDT expands unilateral APAs, some with rollback and multi-year coverage to foreign investors.
Advance Pricing Agreements are being deployed to secure transfer pricing predictability; the tax authority has signed eleven additional unilateral APAs with Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies, some containing rollback provisions and others providing multi year future coverage, thereby increasing the total number of APAs concluded under the APA programme introduced in 2012.

Income Computation and Disclosure Standards guidance sought; stakeholders invited to submit implementation issues for clarification.
The Central Government notified Income Computation and Disclosure Standards under Section 145(2) to standardise computation of income for business, profession and other sources. Stakeholders reported implementation ambiguities, and an expert committee is examining these issues. The government solicits submissions from stakeholders and the public identifying points needing further clarification to enable proper implementation; responses are to be sent to the specified contact and will inform preparation of comprehensive guidance.