Competition approval for minority stake acquisition in packaged food company by investment holding subsidiary of global investor.
Competition Commission approval was granted for Jongsong Investments Pte. Ltd. to acquire a minority stake (below ten percent) in Haldiram Snacks Food Private Limited. The Acquirer is an investment holding company and indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings with no operating business; the Target is newly incorporated and currently non-operational but is described as intending to manufacture and sell packaged food products in India. A detailed order will follow.

Demat account benefits enable secure, diversified and faster electronic securities management, facilitating dividends, margin facilities and streamlined compliance.
A demat account serves as an electronic custodian for securities, replacing physical certificates with digital holdings, enabling secure consolidated ownership across equities, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs, automatic credit of corporate entitlements, faster electronic settlement, use of securities as collateral and simplified tax reporting through consolidated statements.

Updated return filing window extended; staggered additional tax applies based on the duration of delay in filing ITR U.
Notification implements the Finance Act amendment extending the ITR-U filing window measured from the end of the relevant assessment year and prescribes a graduated additional tax regime that increases with the duration of delay in filing an updated return; taxpayers filing within successive delay bands incur proportionately higher additional tax, and the mechanism has produced significant filings and additional revenue since inception.

One-year custody benchmark for bail not mandatory; accused may obtain bail where trial is delayed and punishment limited.
Supreme Court granted bail in a money-laundering case, holding there is no rigid rule requiring a year in custody before bail. Noting the maximum punishment is seven years, ongoing investigation, many witnesses and absence of imminent trial, the court allowed bail subject to stringent conditions, directed surrender of passport and ordered release within a week while recording prosecution objections about the custodial benchmark and potential influence of the accused.

Extortion by impersonation of tax officer leads to arrest after a police trap and seizure during staged handover.
A person impersonated an Income Tax officer and repeatedly phoned a former minister's personal assistant to threaten a raid and demand cash, directing covert handovers at specified locations; police investigated after the assistant reported the calls, conducted a sting operation at a meeting point, arrested the suspect on receipt of money, and seized currency and related materials, with the accused booked under criminal provisions for fraudulent impersonation and attempted extortion.

Social Stock Exchange listing enables NGOs to issue ZCZP bonds with tax benefits for donors, expanding social finance access.
Registration and listing on the Social Stock Exchange allow verified nonprofits to raise funds via SEBI approved Zero Coupon Zero Principal (ZCZP) bonds, which provide no interest or principal repayment but enable donors to claim income tax deductions; SEBI has recommended that the government permit tax incentives for corporate investors to encourage social sector financing. CGR completed SSE verification and launched an NSE issue using ZCZP bonds to fund environmental education and action projects in government schools, following required listing protocols.

Tax exemption under Section 80 IAC extended, broadening startup eligibility and streamlining approvals for qualified ventures.
Income tax exemption under the Section 80-IAC framework was granted to 187 startups under DPIIT's revised evaluation process; eligible startups may claim a full deduction for any three consecutive years within ten years of incorporation. DPIIT now reviews complete applications within 120 days, requires demonstration of technological innovation, market potential, scalability, and employment contribution, and has extended eligibility to startups incorporated up to 1 April 2030.

Bribery in tax administration leads to arrests after sting operation and recovery of illicit assets.
A federal investigation alleges a senior tax official and intermediaries engaged in soliciting and receiving a bribe through middlemen to influence appeal decisions; a sting operation intercepted a middleman accepting illicit payment, leading to arrests of the official and associates. Coordinated searches at multiple locations recovered incriminating documents and cash connected to the bribery allegation, and detained persons are being produced before competent courts while investigation continues.

Bribery allegation: investigation of alleged payments, intermediaries, benami transfers and hawala routing in tax appeal cases.
Allegations describe a structured bribery scheme where a company tax executive, via intermediaries, paid a Commissioner of Income Tax to secure favourable disposal of corporate appeals; investigation targets those who authorised or facilitated payments, intermediaries' roles, and whether company management knew of or sanctioned the alleged payments, while also examining alleged benami conveyance and hawala routing of illicit value.

Protest restrictions: bail ordered after charge sheet filed without arrest for alleged breach of prohibitory order and unlawful assembly.
Bail was granted to multiple activists accused of a protest outside the Election Commission despite a prohibitory order; the court took cognisance of offences for disobedience to public orders, unlawful assembly and common intention, observed the chargesheet was filed without arrest, admitted some accused to bail on personal bonds and others to bail with a surety, issued summons through the investigating officer, and posted the matter for further hearing.

Long term capital gains reporting change allows simpler ITR filing for eligible salaried and presumptive taxpayers when gains fall within exemption.
All seven ITR forms for assessment year 2025 26 are notified. Salaried taxpayers and presumptive scheme taxpayers with long term capital gains from listed equities up to the statutory exemption threshold may file ITR 1 and ITR 4 respectively instead of ITR 2. The Schedule Capital Gains now requires splitting gains arising before and after July 23, 2024, and taxpayers holding property before that date may choose between the new lower LTCG regime without indexation or the earlier regime with indexation. ITR 3's Schedule AL threshold for assets and liabilities reporting is increased, easing disclosure requirements.

Bribery in tax administration prompts arrests and FIR alleging corrupt collusion to decide tax appeals.
Allegations concern bribery and corrupt collusion within the income-tax appellate process: a Commissioner is accused of receiving undue gratification through intermediaries to influence disposal of pending tax appeals in favour of a private corporate party; an FIR was registered against the officer and others, a trap captured an intermediary receiving payment, multi-city searches recovered cash, and the accused were produced before special courts.

Social security schemes expand affordable insurance and pension access with auto debit enrolment and digital claim settlement.
PMJJBY, PMSBY and APY are annual renewable social security schemes administered via insurers with bank/post office tie ups, implementing enrolment by auto debit within a 1 June-31 May cover year. PMJJBY provides life cover for ages 18-50 at a stated annual premium with pro rata options and a fixed death benefit; PMSBY offers accidental death and disability cover for ages 18-70 with tiered benefits and a minimal annual premium. APY grants a guaranteed pension from age 60 for eligible non taxpaying subscribers, with spouse succession and corpus return to nominee; digitised processes and government co contribution rules apply.

Operational and cybersecurity preparedness required for banks to ensure uninterrupted digital and physical banking services during crises.
The Finance Minister directed banks and insurers to maintain comprehensive operational and cybersecurity preparedness, including Anti DDoS systems, active SOC/NOC operations, mock disaster drills, regular cybersecurity audits, continuous firewalling and monitoring of data centres, and real time coordination and incident reporting to CERT In, the Reserve Bank and other agencies to ensure uninterrupted ATM cash, UPI and internet banking services and timely insurance claim settlements.

Climate finance taxonomy invites public comments to shape classification of climate-supportive and transition activities and sectoral annexes.
Draft framework for India's Climate Finance Taxonomy invites stakeholder submissions to establish a national classification system identifying activities, projects and measures as climate-supportive or transition-enabling, sets out objectives, principles and methodology for classification, and will underpin sectoral annexes detailing measures and projects considered climate-supportive or targeted for transition; comments are requested in a prescribed format via the designated email and will be considered in finalising the Framework.

Driver safety monitoring enhances compliance and protects drivers while improving fleet safety through real-time AI video analysis.
Eminent Transit will integrate Netradyne's Driver i to analyze 100% of driving time, provide real-time video intelligence to detect risky driving, support compliance and incident investigation, enable personalized driver coaching, protect passengers (including late-night female commuters), reduce harsh driving events, and safeguard drivers from false claims through contextual recorded evidence.

Cash seizure prompts detention of two individuals after a vehicle search; officials secured funds pending legal proceedings.
An Income Tax Department team intercepted a car near a toll plaza during a checking operation, found and counted Rs 50 lakh in cash on the spot, and detained two occupants for questioning; local police assisted while Income Tax officials assumed custody of the seized cash for further legal proceedings.

RRB amalgamation urged to secure sustainable rural banking operations and integration with sponsor banks by mandated deadline.
Secretary, DFS reviewed RRB performance and instructed accelerated implementation of One State-One RRB and the amalgamation process, directing sponsor banks to guide integration, technology upgradation, and HR resolution; complete integration by 30-09-2025 and draft a five-year roadmap to sustain rural lending in agriculture, MSME and government schemes.

Mortgage-backed Pass Through Certificates listed on national exchange after coupon discovery on EBP, enabling secondary market trading.
India's first Pass Through Certificates (PTC), structured by RMBS Development Company and backed by LIC Housing Finance housing loans, were listed in dematerialised, transferable form and admitted to secondary market trading. Coupon discovery occurred on the exchange's Electronic Book Provider (EBP) platform, the issue carried an AAA(SO) instrument rating, and the securities have an approximately twenty-year final maturity with a stated annual coupon.

Multilateral financial engagement: minister to lead delegation, speak on cross border resilience and hold strategic bilateral consultations.
The national finance minister will lead the official delegation to the Asian Development Bank annual governors' meeting, participate in Governors' Business and Plenary sessions, and speak on cross border collaboration for future resilience. On the sidelines, the minister will hold bilateral consultations with finance counterparts and senior officials of international financial institutions, meet think tanks and business leaders, engage with the expatriate community, and address an academic forum on balancing economic and climate resilience.