Electronic filing requirement relaxation permits manual submission to authorised dealers with later portal upload for identification.
CBDT permits manual submission of Income tax Forms 15CA and 15CB to authorised dealers due to e filing portal difficulties; authorised dealers must accept physical submissions for foreign remittances. A facility on the new e filing portal will allow later uploading of these forms for electronic record keeping and generation of a Document Identification Number.

Digital banking adoption expands PSB remote transactions, automated lending and doorstep services, enhancing consumer access and credit channels.
Operational measures shifted PSB activity to remote channels through contactless digital lending via PSBloansin59minutes, PSB onboarding to TReDS for online MSME bill discounting, Jeevan Pramaan for online pension life certificates, expanded mobile and internet banking features, introduction of automated digital lending and digital retail loan initiation in large PSBs, analytics-based credit offers, and PSB Alliance doorstep banking; no government proposal exists for a Digital Banking Infrastructure Corporation despite bank-level discussions.

Income tax exemption for COVID-19 medical and ex-gratia payments; employer disbursements fully exempt while others face capped relief.
Income tax exemption is provided for amounts received for COVID-19 medical treatment from an employer or any other person for FY 2019-20 and subsequent years, and ex-gratia payments to family members of those who died from COVID-19 are exempt-unlimited when from an employer and subject to an aggregate cap when from other persons; cash transaction limits remain unchanged and certain tax compliance deadlines have been extended.

Deduction under 80JJAA scrutinised after survey found exclusion of emoluments and payroll misstatements, triggering investigation.
Survey identified systemic wrongful claims of the employment-linked deduction under 80JJAA by excluding salary components to meet the emoluments eligibility ceiling and by claiming the deduction for persons no longer on payroll, resulting in detection of substantial concealment of income and ongoing investigations to quantify and address the misstatements.

Search and seizure uncovers artificial losses and related-party bad debt claims, prompting taxation of undisclosed income and further probes.
A search and seizure on a Hyderabad group recovered documents showing schemes of related-party share transfers, non-arm's-length subscriptions and bonus issues that created an artificial loss used to set off capital gains from a foreign sale; evidence also indicated an incorrect bad debt claim linked to related parties and unaccounted cash transactions. Entities and associates have admitted to unaccounted income and agreed to pay taxes, while further investigations and assessment proceedings continue.

Minister of State appointment: Pankaj Chaudhary assumes responsibilities in the Ministry of Finance, joining another Minister of State.
Assumption of ministerial office by Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance: Shri Pankaj Chaudhary formally assumed charge as Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, recording his status as Member of Parliament from Maharajganj, multi-term legislative experience, prior municipal office as Deputy Mayor of Gorakhpur, and his educational background. The release also notes that Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad joined as Minister of State, constituting concurrent junior ministerial appointments and serving as an official notification of ministerial composition without specifying portfolio allocations.

Financial services cooperation strengthened through a bilateral Financial Markets Dialogue to deepen regulatory and market coordination.
The inaugural Financial Markets Dialogue established a government-led forum, with regulator and private-sector participation, to deepen bilateral regulatory and market cooperation across GIFT City as an international financial centre, banking and payments, insurance regulation, and capital markets, and to continue engagement ahead of forthcoming economic forums and trade negotiations.

Financial cooperation expanded to deepen UK India cross border markets, GIFT City links, fintech collaboration and capital markets reform.
The India UK Financial Markets Dialogue advanced bilateral financial cooperation across four streams-GIFT City Strategic Partnership, banking and payments, insurance, and capital markets-where regulators and officials reviewed policy updates, identified collaboration priorities to increase cross border activity, and invited private sector contributions. Agreed areas for further work include enhancing GIFT City connectivity, banking and payments interoperability and cyber resilience, encouraging UK investment in insurance, and pursuing capital markets reforms such as implementation of the direct listings policy and debt market enhancements, with continued bilateral engagement and joint policy workstreams planned.

Ministerial appointment of Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance assumes charge, bringing medical and municipal governance background.
Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad assumed office as Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, taking charge at the Ministry and thereby receiving ministerial responsibilities within the central finance portfolio. The announcement additionally records his prior public-service roles as Mayor and as chairman of a regional legal development corporation and lists his medical and surgical academic qualifications as background information relevant to his public-office profile.

Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant under Article 275 released to eligible states following Fifteenth Finance Commission recommendations.
The Department of Expenditure released the fourth monthly instalment of the Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant to 17 States under Article 275, pursuant to recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission. Grants are disbursed in monthly instalments to meet the assessed gap between State revenue and expenditure after accounting for devolution in 2021-22; statewise instalment and cumulative release figures are annexed.

Electronic filing extension for Forms 15CA/15CB permits temporary manual submission to authorised dealers pending portal upload.
CBDT permits temporary manual submission of Form 15CA with Form 15CB, where applicable, to authorised dealers due to operational difficulties with the e-filing portal. Authorised dealers are to accept such manually submitted forms for foreign remittances. A facility will be provided on the new e-filing portal to upload these forms later for generation of the Document Identification Number.

AI and Emerging Technologies Centre of Excellence to drive public finance innovation and capacity building under a strategic MoU.
A Memorandum of Understanding creates an AI and Emerging Technologies Centre of Excellence at AJNIFM to serve as a central research and innovation hub for applying cloud, AI and emerging technologies to public finance management, jointly developing use cases, capacity building for officials and developers, addressing risks such as money laundering and responsible technology, and engaging an ecosystem of partners to co develop customised fintech solutions.

Tax exemption for COVID-19 medical aid: employer and donor support and ex gratia to families treated as non taxable.
Proposed income-tax exemptions cover amounts received from employers or other persons for COVID-19 medical treatment and ex-gratia payments to family members on death from COVID-19, with employer payments exempt without limit and other payments exempt up to a capped aggregate; legislative amendments will be proposed. Multiple compliance deadlines and administrative time limits for filing statements, certificates, registrations, linkage of personal identifiers with tax records, payment under the dispute settlement scheme, and processing returns have been extended by notifications and a circular to relieve pandemic-related compliance burdens.

Public debt management: increased dated securities issuance and yield hardening amid liquidity operations and ownership concentration.
The Government issued substantially more dated securities in Q4 FY21, with a higher weighted average yield and shorter weighted average maturity than the prior quarter; no Cash Management Bills were issued. The Reserve Bank conducted multiple OMOs and maintained net liquidity absorption under LAF. Provisional end March 2021 liabilities rose quarter on quarter, public debt formed the bulk of liabilities, and a notable share of dated securities had residual maturity under five years. Yields hardened-particularly at the short end-due to increased supply and resumed normal liquidity operations, partially offset by the MPC's unchanged policy rate and accommodative stance.

Performance-based financing to strengthen state health governance, expand insurance synergies and improve quality of care.
The project establishes a loan-supported health systems strengthening program to enhance governance, management capacity, and service quality across Mizoram, introduce a comprehensive Quality Assurance program for facility certification, and expand coverage for underserved and vulnerable groups. It implements performance-based financing via Internal Performance Agreements between the Department of Health and Family Welfare and its subsidiaries to increase accountability, strengthens the state health insurance agency with synergies to the central insurance scheme to reduce financial barriers, and invests in infection prevention and biomedical waste management.

Unaccounted cash seizure prompts investigation into hawala network, accommodation entries and forensic analysis of digital transaction records.
Income-tax authorities executed coordinated search and seizure operations at multiple premises linked to a Raipur-based hawala operator after credible intelligence, seizing substantial cash and digital storage devices. Searches focused on the operator's facilitation of accommodation entries, transportation and end-use of unaccounted funds; seized digital media are under forensic analysis to trace transactions and quantify undeclared amounts for tax enforcement.

Taxpayer service priority: Infosys to remedy technical faults in the new income tax e filing portal and publish timelines.
Senior officials, tax professionals and Infosys reviewed numerous functional failures in the new Income Tax e filing portal affecting e proceedings, Form 15CA/15CB processing, TDS statements, DSC handling and viewing past ITRs; the Finance Minister emphasised taxpayer service, directed prompt vendor remediation, and required that resolution timelines be published, while Infosys reported resource augmentation, partial fixes and ongoing work with expected timelines for remaining issues.

Specified person determination enables deductors to apply higher withholding rates using an online PAN search functionality for compliance.
The Income-tax Department portal provides a "Compliance Check for Sections 206AB & 206CCA" enabling tax deductors/collectors to determine specified person status via single PAN search or bulk PAN upload; responses are downloadable and the CBDT Circular permits a single verification at the start of the financial year for non-specified persons, reducing the need for repeated due diligence while ensuring application of the higher rate where applicable.

Net direct tax collections surge, driven by higher corporation and personal income tax receipts and increased advance tax payments.
Net Direct Tax collections for the Financial Year 2021-22 increased by over 100%, with net receipts at Rs. 1,85,871 crore comprising Corporation Tax and Personal Income Tax (including Security Transaction Tax). Gross direct tax collections stood at Rs. 2,16,602 crore before refunds, with major components including Tax Deducted at Source, Self Assessment Tax, Regular Assessment Tax and Dividend Distribution Tax. Advance Tax collections for the first quarter rose substantially versus the prior year, and refunds have been issued and netted against gross collections.

E filing portal glitches prompt stakeholder meeting to seek vendor remedies and collaborative resolution.
Senior Finance Ministry officials will hold an interactive meeting on 22 June 2021 with the portal vendor and other stakeholders to address persistent e filing portal technical failures causing taxpayer inconvenience. The session will gather written representations and stakeholder inputs, with vendor representatives present to answer queries, clarify issues and collaborate with the ministry and stakeholders to identify and remove glitches and stabilise portal operations.