Deadline extension for belated and revised income tax returns gives resident taxpayers extra time to reconcile books before filing.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes extended the last date for resident individuals to furnish belated or revised returns of income for Assessment Year 2024-25, shifting the deadline from the prior year end date to a later date in mid January, allowing taxpayers additional time to reconcile books and make rectifications before filing.

Direct Benefit Transfer via PFMS strengthens transparent beneficiary payments alongside procurement, borrowing and pension reforms.
The Department of Expenditure expanded PFMS enabled Direct Benefit Transfer coverage and operational tools, integrated 117 external systems, and reduced credit failures; fixed the states' net borrowing ceiling at 3% of GSDP with an additional 0.5% GSDP borrowing window for power sector performance; enacted procurement reforms reducing performance security to 5%, raising monetary thresholds and issuing a revised Goods Procurement Manual; introduced Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 2024; and approved the Unified Pension Scheme to commence 1 April 2025 with assured pension, family pension, minimum pension and inflation indexing.

Administrative appointment: Secretary, Department of Revenue assumes charge, bringing extensive finance and international economic experience.
Dr. Arunish Chawla assumed charge as Secretary, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, following appointment by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. The release records his 1992-batch IAS (Bihar cadre) background, immediate prior tenure as Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals from 1 November 2023, earlier roles including Managing Director of the Metro Rail Project Patna, senior economic postings on foreign assignment (including at the IMF and as Minister (Economic) in Washington), service as Joint Secretary in the Department of Expenditure, and academic credentials of a Master's and Doctorate in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Banking Sector Resilience strengthened through reforms, digital payments expansion and financial inclusion expanding credit and service access.
Departmental reforms in 2024 enhanced banking-sector resilience through asset-recognition and resolution measures, recapitalisation and prudential frameworks that reduced gross and net NPAs and improved provision coverage and capital adequacy. Concurrently, the digital-payments ecosystem was expanded and internationalised via enhanced UPI features, interoperability measures, and regulatory directions including BBPS Master Direction and escrow protections. Financial inclusion was advanced through scale-up of basic bank accounts, low-cost insurance schemes, MUDRA and targeted credit programs, while agricultural credit and Kisan Credit Card saturation drives increased concessional lending to farmers and allied activities.

Data governance strengthened: MoSPI unified metadata, launched eSankhyiki and rebased macrostatistical processes to improve accessibility.
MoSPI strengthened the National Statistical System by fast tracking survey releases, publishing an Advance Release Calendar, launching the eSankhyiki portal and APIs for centralised access, issuing NMDS 2.0 and statistical standards for metadata and interoperability, constituting committees for base revision of GDP/CPI/IIP, delegating financial powers to regional HODs, reorganising survey divisions into product focused verticals, and operationalising a Research & Analysis Unit and Data Innovation Lab to support methodological innovation and stakeholder collaboration.

Tax Administration Reforms: digital processes and risk-based GST and customs measures streamline compliance and facilitate refunds.
The document describes a coordinated programme to enhance tax administration and trade facilitation through digitalisation, procedural reliefs, and risk-based compliance. Income tax measures emphasize faceless processes, e-verification, pre-filling, and rapid ITR/refund processing alongside demand resolution and taxpayer outreach. GST reforms focus on registration integrity, sequential return filing, input tax credit relaxations, conditional waivers for historical periods, and reduced pre-deposit for appeals. Customs modernisation highlights ICEGATE 2.0, ICETAB mobile examination, exchange rate automation, bonded warehouse digitisation, and expanded courier/postal export benefit processing, supported by international cooperation and financial intelligence enhancements.

Sovereign-guaranteed financing expands institutional capacity for green infrastructure and sustainability assessment under new loan agreement.
A sovereign-guaranteed multilateral loan will be extended to a public infrastructure finance company to provide long-term capital for green and sustainable infrastructure, support connectivity and energy transition, and target under-resourced sectors. The project emphasises mobilising private capital via innovative financing and risk-mitigation instruments and builds institutional capacity by establishing a sustainability unit, an environmental sustainability framework, and a sustainability scoring method to integrate sustainability practices into project assessment.

Pension coverage expansion urged as Association of NPS Intermediaries launches to enhance subscriber welfare and regulatory collaboration.
The Association of NPS Intermediaries (ANI) creates a collective platform of NPS stakeholders to expand pension coverage, promote NPS as a tax-efficient retirement product, strengthen subscriber welfare, streamline transparent subscriber processes, and provide coordinated feedback to regulators and policymakers to refine the NPS framework and develop the pension market.

Monetary policy decision: repo rate unchanged and neutral stance to prioritise disinflation while supporting growth.
The MPC meeting under Section 45ZL concluded with a resolution to keep the policy repo rate unchanged and to continue a neutral monetary policy stance focused on a durable alignment of CPI inflation with the medium term target while supporting growth. The minutes set out the macroeconomic and inflation outlook underpinning this choice-weak Q2 GDP driven by industrial slowdown, elevated food led headline inflation with core uptick, projected quarter by quarter GDP and CPI trajectories with evenly balanced risks-and record the voting split and individual member statements proposing alternative measures including a repo rate cut and non rate liquidity options.

Policy-based loan expands manufacturing resilience through logistics reforms and institutional and regulatory strengthening, with digital integration to boost efficiency.
A programmatic policy-based loan under the SMILE second subprogram supports a coordinated reform agenda to expand manufacturing and strengthen supply chain resilience by operationalizing a comprehensive policy framework that: strengthens institutional bases for multimodal logistics at national, state and city levels; standardizes warehousing and logistics assets to attract private investment; improves external trade logistics efficiencies; and adopts smart, low-emission digital logistics systems.

State fund devolution under the 15th Finance Commission increases transfers and expands untied capital support for States.
Devolution of central funds under the 15th Finance Commission has exceeded prior-transfer levels, increasing States' fiscal capacity. The 2024-25 SASCI allocation adds untied capital funds for State use across sectors and creates a disaster dispensation allowing eligible States, as assessed by an Inter Ministerial Central Team, to receive up to fifty percent of their Part 1 (Untied) SASCI allocation for reconstruction of infrastructure, in addition to resources under the National Disaster Response and Mitigation Fund.

Climate-resilient coastal protection to combine hybrid engineering, nature-based solutions and institutional capacity building for community resilience.
The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank agreed a loan to finance climate-resilient coastal and riverbank protection in Maharashtra through hybrid engineering and nature-based measures, enhanced climate-impact forecasting and remote-sensing shoreline monitoring, and institutional strengthening including a coastal infrastructure management unit and capacity building for gender equality, social inclusion, livelihoods, and disaster preparedness.

AIS-ITR mismatch resolution campaign enables taxpayers to file revised or belated returns before applicable limitation deadlines.
The CBDT's electronic campaign notifies taxpayers of AIS-ITR mismatches and non-filing for specified years, urging filing of revised, belated, or updated returns within the applicable limitation windows and permitting taxpayers to contest AIS entries or provide feedback via the AIS portal; the initiative is implemented under the e-Verification Scheme, 2021 and uses third-party data to enhance voluntary compliance and transparency.

Cross-border financial cooperation to facilitate listings, regulatory alignment and joint workstreams driving investment and market access.
The Dialogue prioritised facilitation of cross-border financial services and investment through regulatory alignment and market-access measures across capital markets, insurance, pensions, FinTech, sustainable finance and the IFSC. Key operative measures included exploring direct listings via GIFT IFSC, proposed increases in foreign investment limits in insurance, reforms to reinsurance frameworks and pension regulation to enable overseas investment, and joint workstreams-notably the Capital Markets Working Group, Fintech Joint Working Group, and Sustainable Finance Forum-to advance regulatory sandbox collaboration, digital payment connectivity, CBDC cooperation, disclosure standards and transition finance.

Foreign direct investment policy attracts record cumulative inflows after reforms expanding automatic route and easing tax compliance.
India has achieved cumulative FDI inflows of one trillion dollars since April 2000, supported by a 26% rise in FDI in the first half of the current fiscal year. The growth is attributed to investor friendly policy liberalisation-permitting 100% FDI under the automatic route in most sectors-pro business regulatory reforms, and measures enacted in 2024 abolishing the angel tax and reducing the income tax rate for foreign companies to simplify tax compliance for investors.

Climate-adaptive water harvesting funds community-led water security infrastructure and capacity building for resilient rural irrigation systems.
A concessional loan funds a climate-adaptive community-based water-harvesting project in Meghalaya to construct climate-resilient small water-storage facilities, develop command-area irrigation and micro-irrigation systems, establish weather stations, and pilot renewable micro-hydropower. The project will prepare a WHS master plan and village-level water security plans managed by local institutions, and strengthen capacity of state watershed and conservation departments while training farmers, especially women, to enhance irrigated agriculture, fisheries and horticulture and integrate climate adaptation into water-security planning.

Integration of AI and ML urged to boost detection and enforcement against smuggling while preserving legitimate trade.
DRI is urged to integrate Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to enhance detection and enforcement; its intelligence has helped identify policy gaps, and recent empowerment under wildlife protection legislation aids wildlife smuggling enforcement. Expansion of technical and human capacity is recommended to counter technologically sophisticated criminals while balancing enforcement with facilitation of legitimate trade; publication of smuggling reports and regional international cooperation initiatives support intelligence-led responses to smuggling and commercial frauds.

Foreign Trade Policy reforms expand export incentives and digital facilitation to strengthen global supply chain integration and exporter support.
The document sets out India's export policy architecture centred on the Foreign Trade Policy, organised around remission incentives, collaborative export promotion, digital ease of doing business measures, and focus on emerging sectors including SCOMET and e commerce. It details incentive mechanisms such as interest equalisation, rebate and remission schemes, PLI support for manufacturing, tariff line corrections, and investment reforms, together with operational facilitation through the National Single Window System, Trade Connect, Common Digital Platform for Certificates of Origin, ICEGATE and eBRC automation to reduce compliance costs and bolster MSME and district level export promotion.

Due date extension for transfer pricing return filings: filing deadline moved to mid-December under CBDT circular.
CBDT issued Circular No. 18/2024 (F.No.225/205/2024/ITA-II) dated 30.11.2024 extending the due date to 15th December of the assessment year for assessees required to furnish a transfer pricing report under section 92E; the original due date for filing the return of income under the filing provision was the 30th of November for AY 2024-25.

Plant health management initiative to establish certified clean plant centres and accreditation enhancing horticulture resilience to climate impacts.
The programme will establish dedicated clean plant centres with diagnostic laboratories, trained staff, and operating procedures to maintain disease free foundation material, and will roll out a certification and accreditation scheme to test and certify planting materials and accredit private nurseries. Implementation is by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare through the National Horticulture Board and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, with consultations involving private nurseries, researchers, state governments, and growers' associations.