Department acceptance of appellate orders leads to non filing of review petitions and SLPs to reduce litigation and expedite similar cases.
Department issued a Circular compiling sixty three appellate and tribunal orders that it has accepted and will not challenge by filing review petitions or special leave petitions; fourteen involve High Court decisions on questions of law, while others rest on settled precedent, factual findings, or monetary dismissal. The Department's non filing policy is intended to reduce litigation and enable expeditious, uniform disposal of identical or similar indirect tax cases by making the accepted orders operative for field application.

Trade deficit widened as imports surged faster than exports, increasing overall external imbalance despite a services surplus.
Merchandise exports in January 2018 rose 9.07% in dollar terms driven by engineering goods, petroleum products, chemicals, drugs and pharmaceuticals, and gems and jewellery; imports rose 26.10% with strong increases in oil and several non oil categories. The merchandise trade deficit and the overall trade deficit (merchandise plus services) widened markedly for January and for the April-January cumulative period. Provisional commodity level estimates show mixed sectoral performance, and services trade for December 2017 recorded a surplus that partially offsets the merchandise shortfall.

Fraudulent letters of undertaking trigger criminal and regulatory probes and suspension of bank officers to protect interbank credit.
Detection of large scale banking fraud arising from issuance of fraudulent letters of undertaking by a single branch led to suspension of multiple officers and referral to investigative agencies. Unauthorised LOUs purportedly enabled other lenders and foreign branches to advance buyers' credit to select account holders without required margins or proper procedural entries, prompting FIRs and regulatory scrutiny of banks and beneficiary firms and directing system and process reviews to prevent recurrence.

Port infrastructure competitiveness: report urges standardisation and policy reforms to reduce congestion, delays, and unpredictable costs.
The report assesses 13 major ports, introducing a Port Performance Index combining stakeholder perceptions and quantitative data, and identifies five core bottlenecks-port congestion, customs clearance (including scanning and ICEGATE), shipping line issues and charges, documentation and paperwork, and regulatory clearances-that largely drive detention and demurrage. It presents 60 policy measures aimed at process standardisation, improving predictability of time and cost, and completing existing government initiatives to strengthen the ports sector; scope limited to container and bulk cargo.

Bilateral trade cooperation advances with emphasis on border infrastructure, non-tariff issue resolution and an institutional B2B mechanism.
Commerce secretaries met to strengthen bilateral trade cooperation by focusing on development of border trading infrastructure, expansion of Border Haats, resolution of non-tariff issues, regional connectivity under BBIN MVA, and measures to ease investment; they agreed to explore export promotion, capacity building and creation of an institutional B2B mechanism to provide policy inputs on trade and investment, with a follow-up meeting to be held in New Delhi.

Customs duty amendments: exemptions, rescissions and revised basic duty rates on specified imports following budget proposals.
Proposed customs tariff amendments adjust levy treatment on specified imports and exports by prescribing revised Basic Customs Duty rates, exempting certain duties and cesses (including road and infrastructure levies and components of Social Welfare Surcharge), prescribing a nil export duty for specified electrodes, and rescinding earlier notifications that granted exemptions, thereby aligning customs duty entries with the Budget 2018-19 tariff changes.

Finance Bill 2018 adjusts direct and indirect tax rates, introduces new tax rules and compliance measures.
The Finance Bill, 2018 sets new income tax rates and surcharges, updates withholding/collection and advance tax rules, and creates a ten percent tax on specified long term capital gains, with defined fair market valuation rules. It inserts accounting and computation standards for marked to market, foreign exchange gains and contract revenue recognition; limits deductions where returns are late; establishes electronic customs procedures, a Customs Authority for Advance Rulings, electronic cash ledger payments, and new Social Welfare and Road & Infrastructure cesses on imports and excisable goods; and makes consequential statutory amendments to savings schemes, securities and anti money laundering law with delegated rule making powers.

Revised national accounts confirm updated GDP and GVA profiles after incorporation of detailed industry and institutional data.
First Revised Estimates for 2016 17 replace provisional figures with industry wise and institution wise data, updating GDP and GVA levels and growth rates while explaining methodological treatment of Gross Capital Formation (flow of funds treated as firmer, discrepancies as "errors and omissions"). The note reports unchanged real GDP growth at 7.1% for 2016 17, sectoral GVA revisions (stronger primary, moderated manufacturing and construction), shifts in institutional saving and investment shares (household saving down, corporate shares up), and identifies data source updates-crop and livestock estimates, ASI results, government actuals and MCA21-as principal reasons for revisions to earlier years.

Export promotion of Khadi: leverage eco friendly credentials to expand market access and diversify exports through strategic support.
Export promotion of Khadi is framed as a policy priority requiring trade policy inputs, market access work and MEIS incentives to raise Khadi's marginal share in textile exports. The piece identifies supply side constraints (raw material procurement, artisan wages, production capacity) and limited product diversification as barriers, and recommends end to end marketing strategies, design and technology interventions, cluster development, market intelligence, incubation of startups, and engagement with corporates, PSUs and financial and e commerce partners to build sustainable export value chains.

Economic growth projection: GST, insolvency reforms and bank recapitalization expected to lift GDP to about 6.75-7.5%.
Real GDP is projected at 6.75 percent for 2017-18 and 7.0-7.5 percent for 2018-19, attributed to implementation of the GST, resolution of Twin Balance Sheet problems via the Indian Bankruptcy Code, bank recapitalization, FDI liberalization and an export upswing; GVA is expected to grow 6.1 percent with agriculture, industry and services at about 2.1, 4.4 and 8.3 percent respectively, while policy vigilance is urged against oil-price shocks, protectionism and capital-flow reversals.

Late converger stall risk: India must rapidly upgrade human capital and agricultural productivity to sustain growth trajectory.
The Economic Survey assesses the risk of a late converger stall for India, identifying four interlinked challenges: reduced export opportunities from a global backlash against globalization; impeded structural transformation when resources shift only to marginally more productive or still informal sectors; inadequate upgrading of human capital for technology intensive workplaces with many rural children below basic learning standards; and climate change induced agricultural stress that depresses productivity. It concludes India is not yet stalled but must rapidly improve human capital and agricultural productivity to sustain growth.

Trade facilitation and enforcement balance emphasised; Customs to deploy technology for cargo tracking and WTO TFA alignment.
Customs must balance trade facilitation with effective enforcement, adopting digital tools for consignment tracking, risk management, and inter agency coordination, while aligning procedures with the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement to improve cross border trade performance and preserve detection capacity.

Duty drawback rate enhancement boosts input tax neutralisation to improve export competitiveness for targeted manufacturing and agricultural sectors.
Government increases All Industry Rates of duty drawback for 102 tariff items to improve input tax neutralisation for exporters, targeting sectors such as marine and seafood products, automobile and bicycle tyres and tubes, leather and leather articles, wool yarn and fabric, glass handicrafts and bicycles, through an official customs notification available on the central board's website.

Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificate granted to customs and central excise officials for specially distinguished service and enforcement excellence.
The press release announces the grant of the Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificate for 'Specially distinguished record of service' to 44 officers and staff of the Central Board of Excise & Customs on Republic Day 2018, selected for sustained exemplary performance in roles ranging from senior leadership to field and support staff, particularly in anti-smuggling and narcotics prevention, tax evasion detection, foreign exchange violation enforcement, revenue mobilization, automation of Customs/GST systems, litigation reduction, capacity building and administrative efficiency.

Promoting mutual trade and investment: expo advances trade facilitation, SME ecosystem and regional connectivity to boost India ASEAN economic ties.
Inauguration of a multilateral business and investment exposition aimed at promoting mutual trade and investment between India and ASEAN economies, emphasising trade facilitation, investment promotion, and sectoral cooperation. The Expo assembled buyers, exhibitors, national and state pavilions, and industry participants across infrastructure, manufacturing, ICT, healthcare, tourism, environment, agriculture, science and technology, finance, logistics and retail, with sessions focused on services, regional value chains and connectivity, agriculture, and trade and investment.

Export diversification strategy to expand product and market access, with an agri-export policy open for stakeholder consultation.
The commerce ministry is preparing an Export Diversification strategy, including a dedicated marketing strategy to expand exports into new products and markets and to facilitate exporter access to overseas demand via trade promotion platforms. Simultaneously, an Agri-export Policy will be published for stakeholder consultation, with government measures to create an enabling environment and leverage events like the Indus Food trade show to connect exporters with global buyers.

Honorary Fellowship awarded to Shri P.P. Chaudhary recognizing contributions to the company secretaries profession and corporate governance.
The Institute of Company Secretaries of India conferred its Honorary Fellow Membership on Shri P.P. Chaudhary in recognition of significant contributions to the profession of company secretaries and for promoting professionalism of management and best practices in corporate governance, noting his extensive legal practice background.

Logistics sector reform expands public private collaboration to streamline regulation and enable infrastructure financing and digital integration.
The Department of Commerce and Confederation of Indian Industry signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create an institutional mechanism to modernize the logistics sector by simplifying regulation, coordinating with central and state agencies, integrating information technology, enabling access to long term finance through infrastructure status for certain activities, and establishing a Logistics Working Group and an integrated transactional logistics portal linking industry, service providers and government agencies.

Trade deficit widened as imports-notably oil and non oil commodities-outpaced export growth, increasing external imbalance.
Merchandise exports showed double digit growth in dollar terms in December 2017 and for April-December driven by key commodity groups, while imports-especially oil and non oil categories like petroleum, electronics, precious stones, gold and machinery-grew faster, causing the merchandise trade deficit to widen and contributing to a substantially larger overall trade deficit for April-December 2017-18; services recorded a surplus that partly offset the merchandise shortfall.

FDI liberalisation: automatic route for single brand retail and expanded sectoral entry enabling broader foreign investment under revised conditions.
Amendments expand permissible foreign investment under the automatic route in key sectors including Single Brand Retail Trading (with a five year incremental sourcing concession), permit foreign airline investment in the national carrier subject to preserving Indian substantial ownership and aggregate foreign limits, classify real estate broking as eligible for automatic FDI, allow FIIs/FPIs primary market investment in power exchanges, permit equity issuance for non cash consideration in automatic sectors, align investment holding entities' treatment with financial regulation, amend the medical device definition, and require joint audits where foreign investors specify auditors from international networks.