Customs duty increase on iron and steel raises nominal tariff while effective duty rates and import exceptions remain unchanged.
Budgetary action raised the nominal rate of basic customs duty on iron and steel, while existing effective duty rates remain unchanged; specialised grades not produced domestically and price differentials drive necessary imports, and the deregulated steel sector leaves the Government a policy setting facilitator with investment decisions left to private investors.

Export incentive rates for tea under the Foreign Trade Policy shape exporter behaviour and are under review following industry representations.
Under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme in the Foreign Trade Policy, packaged and value added teas receive a higher reward rate than bulk teas to promote branding and maximise foreign exchange; the Indian Tea Association has sought restoration of the higher reward for bulk tea, and such representations are reviewed by the government while the Tea Board pursues value addition, branding, infrastructure and market promotion.

Minimum support price intervention sought to stabilise cotton prices as exports slump, prompting diplomatic export outreach.
Export decline in raw cotton in 2014-15 created a domestic surplus, depressing producer prices; the Cotton Corporation of India undertook extensive procurement under the minimum support price to absorb excess supply. The Ministry of Textiles has directed Indian diplomatic missions in cotton deficit countries to explore new export avenues to stabilise domestic cotton prices, as stated in a parliamentary written reply.

Export regulation of iron-ore remains under open general license; high-grade shipments canalized through state trading and LTAs to be renewed.
Export of iron ore is regulated under an Open General License, with high grade ore canalized through the nominated trading channel and exports determined by availability and international market conditions. The government maintains long term supply agreements for high grade ore; renewal proposals are under consideration and negotiations on quantity and price will commence after approval of any renewals. Exports under these arrangements are sourced from identified domestic mining production and subject to approved allocations.

Import restrictions on rough marble clarified; finished marble imports allowed subject to minimum import price and slab thickness limits.
Import regulation distinguishes rough and finished marble by ITC(HS) classification: rough marble imports under certain codes are restricted and governed by annual notification-based policy after stakeholder consultation; finished marble imports under designated codes are free subject to a prescribed minimum import price and a maximum slab thickness, with those conditions set out in trade policy notifications.

Foreign direct investment liberalisation expands sectoral access and eases licensing through online single-window procedures for investors.
The Government expanded sectoral access to Foreign Direct Investment and eased regulatory requirements for defence manufacturing, including longer Industrial Licence validity and delisting of numerous defence items, while integrating fourteen central services on the eBiz portal to enable online single-window filing and payment for licences, registrations and clearances, and reducing export-import documentation with best-practice circulation for state adoption.

Preferential quota liberalisation: export of preferential quota sugar moved to free regime, subject to DGFT ceilings and registration.
Exports of Preferential Quota sugar to EU and USA are shifted from State Trading Enterprise control to a Free regime while remaining subject to quantitative ceilings notified by DGFT. APEDA will operate the USA quota and exporters must furnish actual export details to APEDA and Additional DGFT, Mumbai; Certificates of Origin, if required, will be issued by the Additional DGFT. Minimal registration with APEDA or DGFT is required under the Government notification dated 20 April 2015.

Special Economic Zone notification advances after environmental clearance and planning, with rehabilitation governed by state policy.
Notification and regulatory progression for establishment of a Special Economic Zone at Navi Mumbai includes issuance of the SEZ notification, receipt of environmental clearance, submission of a Master Plan and detailed project report, and commencement of area levelling and tendering for protective works; resettlement and rehabilitation of displaced persons are to be addressed under State Government policies.

Services sector growth: leveraging skilled manpower and international cooperation to expand cross border service exports and engagement.
Government policy emphasizes expanding the services sector by leveraging India's young, skilled workforce to meet international demand in areas such as healthcare, financial services, arbitration, tourism and cultural services. The approach calls for mapping global skills needs, promoting international cooperation through events like the Global Exhibition on Services, facilitating cross border delivery via measures such as visa facilitation, and coordinating public-private efforts to develop new export geographies and scale service exports.

CBEC's IT consolidation enables centralized e-services, electronic filings, payments, and analytics with ISO 27001 security.
The Information Technology Consolidation Initiative established consolidated IT infrastructure and central data centres to host CBEC's e-services across Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax, enabling centralized online registration, electronic filing and payment, reimbursement of drawback claims, document tracking, departmental email services, disaster recovery capability, and ISO 27001:2005 information security certification while supporting high volumes of electronic transactions and advanced analytics via an Enterprise Data Warehouse.

Strategic cooperation in services promotes a Global Exhibition to deepen sector partnerships and boost international services engagement.
Global Exhibition on Services is a government led platform organised by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry with SEPC and CII to foster strategic cooperation between Indian and international services providers, focused on sectors such as IT & telecom, tourism, media and entertainment, healthcare, logistics, professional services, education, R&D, space and SMEs, and structured to deliver B2B meetings, sectoral seminars and ongoing export promotion through an annual forum.

Trade balance shows a larger merchandise deficit despite reduced oil imports; services remain a net export source.
Merchandise exports declined in March and cumulatively for April-March while merchandise imports fell in March and were marginally lower cumulatively; crude oil imports fell substantially but non oil imports rose, producing a cumulative trade deficit larger than the prior year. Services receipts in the reported month exceeded payments, yielding a positive services trade balance.

Smart Cities priorities drive urban infrastructure investment and MoU-based industry cooperation to support manufacturing-led urban development.
Smart Cities are framed as a policy priority to manage rapid urbanisation by directing urban infrastructure investment, sustainable planning and industrial promotion. Implementation relies on Memoranda of Understanding to secure technology and manufacturing partnerships, and on financing strategies that leverage public private engagement and corporate participation to mobilise capital and deliver integrated urban solutions.

De reservation of manufacturing items expands market access and invites investment by allowing wider production of previously reserved goods.
On the Advisory Committee's recommendation under Section 29B(2C), the Government issued a notification de reserving twenty items previously reserved for exclusive manufacture by the MSE sector, reasoning that import liberalisation and technological and scale considerations negate continued reservation; the de reservation aims to encourage investment, technology adoption and enhanced competition in domestic and global markets for those goods.

International Trade Promotion: Make in India showcased to attract manufacturing investment and bilateral technology partnerships.
India's role as Partner Country at Hannover Messe 2015 implements a coordinated trade and investment promotion strategy under the Make in India banner, deploying an India Pavilion, central ministries, state delegations and over 350 companies to showcase priority sectors and programmes such as Skill India and Digital India. The programme features sectoral seminars and an Indo German Business Summit to enable CEO level dialogue and technology partnerships, emphasising collaboration with German engineering and innovation capabilities while integrating cultural promotion to enhance India's investment pitch.

Monetary policy stance maintained to support gradual disinflation and growth while monitoring bank lending transmission.
The Reserve Bank maintains key policy rates and liquidity operations unchanged while continuing overnight and term repos to smooth liquidity; assesses a mixed global recovery and tentative domestic strengthening with evolving inflationary pressures; adopts an accommodative monetary stance conditioned on incoming data to support disinflation and growth while awaiting better transmission of policy cuts into bank lending rates; and announces regulatory and developmental measures including phased liquidity standards, revisions to long term bond treatment, base rate methodology encouragement, governance reforms, G sec market deepening, expanded rupee bond issuance, covered forex options for hedging, and revisions to priority sector and microfinance norms.

Goods and Services Tax expected to harmonize indirect taxation and reduce exporters' production costs under FTP
The Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 identifies the absence of a uniform indirect tax regime as a constraint on exporters and records implementation of GST from 1 April 2016 as the principal measure to simplify and harmonise indirect taxation, reduce production costs, integrate the domestic market, and enhance exporters' price competitiveness.

Export incentive schemes consolidate transferable duty credit scrips and market based rewards under a revised foreign trade framework.
The Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 consolidates export incentives into the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) and Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS), issuing transferable duty credit scrips without conditionality and applying differentiated reward rates by market and service categories; it also reduces specific EPCG export obligations to encourage domestic capital goods procurement and extends scheme benefits to SEZ units.

Export incentive consolidation: merged MEIS and SEIS introduce transferable duty credit scrips usable for customs, excise and service tax payments.
The policy consolidates multiple merchandise reward schemes into a single Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) and replaces SFIS with Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS), expanding eligibility to service providers located in India. Rewards are based on realised FOB value (MEIS) or net foreign exchange (SEIS). Duty credit scrips under both schemes are made freely transferable and may be used for payment of customs duty (subject to exclusions), excise duty and service tax, and basic customs duty debits via scrips are eligible for drawback when imported inputs are used in exports.

Field offices to remain open to facilitate filing of returns and payment of taxes ahead of the year end.
All field offices of customs, central excise and service tax will be kept open on 28 March 2015 to facilitate taxpayers in filing of returns, payment of taxes, completing procedural formalities and obtaining required clarifications; this is an additional facilitation beyond 24x7 customs services at ports and airports.