Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant under Article 275 distributed following Fifteenth Finance Commission recommendations to eligible governments.
The eleventh monthly instalment of the Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant, amounting to 6,195.08 crore, has been released under Article 275 to eligible States pursuant to the Commission's assessment of post-devolution revenue-expenditure gaps. A cumulative 68,145.91 crore has been disbursed in the financial year against a Commission-recommended annual total of 74,341 crore, with state-wise instalment and year-to-date figures provided.

Regulatory compliance reduction enables faceless dispute resolution and digitized tax and customs procedures to ease business compliance.
Proposals target reduction of compliance burdens via Simplification, Digitization, Rationalization and Decriminalization. A Regulatory Compliance Portal will catalog central and state compliances; customs will require pre-arrival filing and a two year investigative limit; faceless dispute resolution and a National Faceless Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Centre will centralize electronic communications; tax returns will be partly pre-filled and digital transaction thresholds raised; LLP decriminalization, revised Small Company thresholds, a consolidated Securities Markets Code, and MCA21 Version 3.0 for digital compliance are proposed.

Direct Benefit Transfer of electricity subsidy enables additional borrowing permission for state under reform-linked GSDP incentive.
Andhra Pradesh implemented Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of electricity subsidy to farmers in Srikakulam District from September 2020 and framed a statewide DBT to commence April 2021; this DBT implementation entitles the State to additional borrowing equal to 0.15% of GSDP, and the Department of Expenditure has permitted mobilisation of corresponding additional resources under the reform-linked borrowing framework.

Tax search and seizure uncovers alleged inflated expenses and accommodation entries prompting an expanded investigation.
Income Tax Department searches across multiple locations into three business groups alleged understatement of income through inflated expenses and accommodation entries in the form of non-genuine unsecured loans, share capital and share premium from shell entities; digital backups and records showing unexplained expenses, cash-balance discrepancies and year end bogus bookings were seized, cash was recovered and several bank lockers identified, and further investigation is ongoing.

Investment facilitation under Make in India 2.0 focuses on sectoral action plans and incentives to boost domestic production and FDI
Make in India 2.0 establishes an investment facilitation and industrial policy framework targeting 27 priority manufacturing and service sectors, with DPIT coordinating manufacturing and the Department of Commerce coordinating services. It relies on action plans, diplomatic and state outreach, promotional events, procurement and phased manufacturing measures, and production linked incentives to stimulate domestic manufacturing and attract foreign investment, alongside regulatory simplification and financial measures to improve ease of doing business.

Search and seizure uncovers use of shell companies to conceal income, prompting expanded tax investigation and further enquiries.
A search and seizure operation on a Kolkata-based industrial group at more than 25 premises uncovered documentary and material evidence indicating use of paper/shell companies to raise bogus share capital and unsecured loans, route back unaccounted funds and carry out out-of-books cash transactions; enquiries detected a total concealment of income and admissions of undisclosed income, with further investigations ongoing.

Reform-linked capital assistance awarded to a State after completing three citizen-centric reforms, enabling road-sector projects.
Telangana received additional reform-linked capital assistance of Rs. 179 crore under the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure after completing reforms in three of four citizen-centric areas (One Nation One Ration Card, Ease of Doing Business, Urban Local Bodies). Rs. 89.50 crore has been released as the first instalment, and the additional funds are earmarked for road-sector capital projects. The Scheme's Part III provides incentive funds to States that complete at least three of the specified reforms by 15 February 2021.

Fiscal policy response under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat bolstered capital spending and allowed conditional state borrowing to support recovery.
The document states that the Government adopted a calibrated fiscal policy response under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat combining demand- and supply-side measures-including elevated capital expenditure, targeted incentives, food and direct transfers, credit guarantees and Extra Budgetary Resources-to cushion the pandemic shock and support recovery. It highlights higher capital outlays, a temporary rise in fiscal and revenue deficits, recovery in GST collections, planned non-debt capital receipts and an allowance for states to take additional borrowings up to 2% of GSDP conditional on reforms.

Urban local body reform eligibility enables additional borrowing by states upon completing prescribed property tax and user charge measures.
States that complete Urban Local Body reforms become eligible to mobilise additional borrowing through market borrowings, subject to notifying floor rates of property tax in consonance with circle rates and floor rates of user charges for water, drainage and sewerage reflecting current costs and past inflation, together with a mechanism for periodic increases in these rates in line with price movements.

Turant Customs trade facilitation enhances ease of doing business and recognises officers for operational contributions to supply chain resilience.
The CBIC emphasised Ease of Doing Business and trade facilitation, highlighting operational reforms under the Turant Customs programme-faceless, contactless and paperless clearance-to strengthen supply chain resilience and ensure uninterrupted movement of goods during the pandemic. Officers were recognised with Certificate of Merit awards for exemplary contributions to these administrative and digitalisation efforts.

Rural Local Bodies grants: instalments released subject to utilisation certificates and prompt transfer requirements.
Release of central grants to Rural Local Bodies under the 15th Finance Commission comprises untied basic grants (excluding salary/establishment expenditure) and tied grants for sanitation and drinking water; grants supplement Centrally Sponsored Schemes and are payable to all three Panchayati Raj tiers. Subsequent instalments require a Utilisation Certificate and administrative recommendation; subnational governments must transfer funds to local bodies within a short statutory timeframe, with interest payable on delayed transfers. The release schedule and state wise amounts for the fiscal year are recorded.

Regional appellate bench for corporate insolvency eases appeals from southern jurisdictions and aims to reduce case pendency.
The Government established the NCLAT Chennai Bench with two designated Members and assigned it jurisdiction over appeals from NCLT benches for Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Lakshwadeep and Puducherry; the New Delhi seat is designated the Principal Bench. The measure, together with five new NCLT benches, aims to increase tribunal capacity, reduce travel burdens, shorten timelines and promote speedier disposal of corporate insolvency and company law appeals, supported by continued virtual operations and a reported high disposal rate under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code framework.

Special Assistance for capital expenditure: incentive funding awarded to states implementing citizen-centric reforms and approved projects released.
The Special Assistance to States for capital expenditure scheme provides allocations in three parts: fixed allocations for north-eastern and hill States (Part-I), proportional allocations to other States (Part-II), and a conditional incentive pool (Part-III) reserved for States that implement at least three of four specified citizen-centric reforms. Eligibility for Part-III funding requires completion of those reforms and nodal ministry recommendation by the prescribed deadline; approved project lists are sanctioned by the Department of Expenditure and first instalments are released following approval.

Undisclosed income exposed: search and seizure revealed concealed transactions, coded records, benami property and undisclosed loans.
Search and seizure operations in Jaipur on 19 January 2021 across three groups uncovered concealed physical and digital records, coded stock and secret cavities, revealing long term unaccounted transactions, unreported manufacturing and sales suppression, benami property records, understated project investments, undisclosed income from housing schemes, and unaccounted cash loans with interest; investigations are ongoing.

Unaccounted income uncovered in search operation leads to accepted undisclosed sales revenue and agreement to pay self assessment tax.
A search operation on builders in the Borivali-Mira Road-Bhayander area uncovered seized unaccounted cash and evidences of undisclosed income, including on money from property sales, accommodation entries via shell/paper companies, capital introductions and unaccounted expenses. The group accepted previously unrecognised sales revenue for the relevant fiscal year and agreed to pay the related Self Assessment Tax; lockers remain to be accessed and further investigations and assessments are ongoing.

Direct Benefit Transfer for electricity subsidies enables reform-linked additional state borrowing after district-level implementation.
Introduction of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for agricultural electricity subsidies in one district qualified the State for reform-linked additional borrowing. The DBT scheme was implemented in Vidisha district with beneficiary transfers and will expand to other districts before statewide rollout. The Department of Expenditure's framework links additional resource mobilisation to three power-sector reforms-reduction of AT&C losses, narrowing the ACS-ARR gap, and DBT introduction-permitting States to raise extra funds through open market borrowings upon meeting the prescribed conditions.

Excise duty increase on petrol and diesel boosts central revenue despite reduced fuel consumption during the pandemic.
A sharp increase in central excise duty on petrol and diesel in March and May 2020 produced a 48% rise in excise receipts during April-November 2020 despite lower fuel sales; excise (central) and VAT (state) continue to apply to oil products excluded from GST, with ad valorem levies on some products and per unit hikes directly increasing per litre incidence and central mop up.

Search and seizure operations uncover undisclosed income and complex layering schemes; admissions, seizures and ongoing investigations follow.
Search and seizure operations based on departmental data and enquiries uncovered concealment of income via undisclosed cash sales, bogus expenses, layering of unlisted share sales to convert cash into unsecured loans or share capital, round tripping, bogus losses on penny stocks, unaccounted loans and commissions; incriminating documents were seized, an assessee admitted a portion of undisclosed income, seizures of unaccounted cash were made, and further investigations continue.

One Nation One Ration Card portability enables states additional borrowing permission upon Aadhaar seeding and FPS automation.
Completion of the One Nation One Ration Card reform makes a State eligible for additional borrowing linked to GSDP. Tamil Nadu, as the 11th State, was granted permission to mobilise extra resources after implementing portability that allows beneficiaries under NFSA and other schemes to obtain rations from any e-PoS enabled FPS. The additional 0.25% of GSDP borrowing limit is conditional on both Aadhaar seeding of all ration cards/beneficiaries and automation of all FPSs with e-PoS devices and biometric authentication.

Dividend distribution: SPMCIL paid a final dividend to the Government in compliance with DIPAM guidelines, reflecting profit-linked payout.
SPMCIL paid a final dividend for financial year 2019-20 to the Government of India, determined as a proportion of the company's net worth and reported as a proportion of profit after tax, in compliance with Department of Investment and Public Asset Management guidelines; the administrative handover of the dividend cheque to government officials is recorded.