Goods and Services Tax implementation prioritized as central tax reform, with land legislation and anti black money laws to follow.
Implementation of Goods and Services Tax and passage of the Land bill are primary legislative priorities to effect major indirect tax reform, accompanied by direct tax rate reductions, measures to resolve legacy tax disputes, and laws to squeeze black money. The Government emphasises transparency, an end to investigative agency abuse, and fiscal management measures including contained fiscal deficit, record disinvestment receipts, early reduction in bank NPAs, and commitments to rural infrastructure, social security schemes, and financial inclusion through pension, insurance, and MUDRA initiatives.

Capital account convertibility requires strong macroprudential safeguards before liberalisation to manage financial stability risks and sequencing.
Capital account convertibility permits unrestricted currency conversion for cross border asset transactions and exposes the economy to heterogeneous flows-from long term productive investment to short term volatile portfolio movements. Its benefits include broader financing channels and potential efficiency gains; its risks include sensitivity to macroeconomic conditions, sudden reversals, exchange rate volatility, and crises from unhedged foreign currency liabilities. India has progressively liberalised FDI and portfolio access while maintaining prudential limits on foreign currency debt and restricting speculative offshore rupee trading. Full convertibility should be pursued incrementally, contingent on fiscal consolidation, price stability, financial sector health, market depth, and stronger supervision.

Benami property prohibition expanded to allow attachment and confiscation with penal sanctions to curb concealed wealth.
Amendment to the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 authorises strengthened measures against benami property by introducing provisions for attachment and confiscation of benami assets and a reinforced penalty regime including fine with imprisonment, implemented through the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill, 2015 as a statutory tool to curb black money.

Disproportionate assets prosecution overturned, reversing a long running conviction and restoring eligibility implications for office.
The Karnataka High Court set aside a Special Court conviction in a prosecution alleging acquisition of assets disproportionate to known sources of income by J Jayalalithaa, reversing a prior sentence and fine imposed after an 18 year trial which featured transfer of trial outside the state, contested prosecutorial appointments, and protracted litigation.

Anti-corruption reform expands bribery offences, strengthens penalties and corporate liability and expedite trials.
The amendment package enlarges bribery offences, enhances imprisonment terms, treats intentional illicit enrichment as criminal misconduct with disproportionate assets as proof, and expressly includes non-monetary gratification. It transfers attachment powers to the Special Judge, extends inducement provisions to commercial entities, requires corporate guidelines to prevent bribery, prescribes a two year trial completion target, delineates public servants' obligations to follow statutory duties and extends prior-sanction protections and Lokpal/Lokayukta sanction requirements for certain investigations.

KYC/AML compliance failures prompt central bank to impose penalties on banks and caution others to strengthen controls.
Reserve Bank imposed monetary penalties on three public sector banks under Section 47A(1)(c) read with Section 46(4)(i) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 for substantiated violations of KYC/AML obligations, including failures in customer identification, transaction monitoring, RTGS receipt handling, account opening diligence and internal controls; eight other banks were cautioned to strengthen and periodically review measures to ensure strict KYC compliance.

Automatic exchange of information should be implemented globally to tackle offshore tax evasion and ensure reciprocity.
The statement urges adoption of automatic exchange of information under the Common Reporting Standards on a fully reciprocal global basis, pressing non committed jurisdictions to implement without delay. It criticises exchange of information on request as limited, and calls on the Global Forum to monitor implementation, ensure necessary legal and regulatory frameworks exist, and verify that information is being exchanged in practice to address offshore tax evasion and illicit financial flows.

KYC/AML non-compliance leads to monetary penalties imposed on multiple central co-operative banks after show-cause process.
The Reserve Bank of India imposed a monetary penalty of five lakh rupees each on sixteen Central Co-operative Banks for non-adherence to Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and Anti Money Laundering (AML) standards under the Banking Regulation Act applicable to co-operative societies, after issuing show cause notices, considering written replies and personal submissions, and concluding that the violations were substantiated.

Compounding of contraventions under FEMA enables voluntary admission and penalty settlement that bars further proceedings.
Compounding under FEMA permits voluntary admission of breaches (except section 3(a)) and settlement by payment after submission of the prescribed application, supporting documents and fee. The Reserve Bank classifies contraventions as technical, material or sensitive; technical cases may receive cautionary advice, material cases are compounded by imposing a penalty following opportunity for personal hearing, and sensitive cases are referred for investigation. Payment of the compounding sum yields a compliance certificate and bars further proceedings in respect of that contravention.

Executive Director appointments in public sector banks approved, effective on assumption of charge and subject to superannuation or tenure limits.
Approval is granted for nine Executive Director appointments in public sector banks, effective from assumption of charge with a stated scale of pay and tenure limited either to the officer's date of superannuation or, in one case, to a five year term; each appointment is subject to earlier administrative orders.

KYC non-compliance: banks to impose phased partial freezing after notice periods, allow credits but block debits.
Banks must enforce compulsory Know Your Customer compliance using a phased mechanism: after an initial notice and reminder, impose partial freezing that allows credits but disallows debits, permit account revival on submission of KYC, and if non-compliance continues render accounts inoperative by disallowing all credits and debits and retain the option to close such accounts.

Search and seizure monitoring ordered, with referral to a money laundering probe and continued supervisory oversight.
The SIT directed the CBDT Chairperson to personally monitor search and seizure operations and subsequent proceedings in the tax investigation of a former official, with the DG conducting searches to convey information to the Enforcement Directorate for a coordinated money laundering inquiry; the SIT will continue to supervise further investigative steps.

Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014 removes minimum capital, makes common seal optional, tightens deposit penalties, and revises fraud reporting.
The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014 amends the Companies Act, 2013 by removing minimum paid-up capital requirements, making the common seal optional with alternative authorisation for documents, creating a new penal section for contraventions relating to deposits, restricting public inspection of Board resolutions, requiring write-off of past losses/depreciation before declaring dividends, clarifying IEPF transfer rules, enabling tiered fraud reporting by auditors, empowering Audit Committees to give omnibus related-party approvals, relaxing shareholder approval for certain related-party transactions, and confining bail restrictions and Special Court jurisdiction to more serious offences.

Fiscal deficit target steers budgetary strategy to reduce deficits and spur growth amid external and domestic risks.
Fiscal deficit targeting is central to the Budget's macro fiscal strategy, with staged reductions in the budget shortfall planned to restore fiscal discipline after low growth, weak industrial performance, constrained tax buoyancy and large subsidies. The Budget recognises external risks from oil price volatility and an uncertain monsoon and identifies undisclosed domestic funds as a challenge. To meet the consolidation path, the Government signals corrective fiscal measures and growth oriented interventions while containing expenditure pressures through subsidy restraint and strengthened revenue measures.

KYC and AML non compliance results in a supervisory monetary sanction after show cause process and consideration of submissions.
The central bank invoked powers under the Banking Regulation Act (as applicable to co operative societies) to address non adherence to KYC norms and AML guidelines by a cooperative district bank; after issuing a show cause notice and considering the bank's written reply and personal submissions, the regulator found the violations substantiated and imposed a monetary sanction.

Bilateral trade engagement: Canada and India agree to advance Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiations and explore investment promotion.
Bilateral trade engagement focused on advancing Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations and promoting Canadian investment into India, with both Ministers expressing intent to identify investment barriers and develop strategies to enhance investment. The exchange highlighted sectoral cooperation potential in food processing, energy and education as areas where Canada can contribute, noting a favourable policy environment in India that could support business engagement and job creation.

Banks must build structures and practices to ensure fair, simple and secure customer service, including clear liability and stronger complaint handling.
Banks must establish organisational structures and operational practices to deliver superior, efficient and fair customer service based on BCSBI codes, with stronger implementation through nodal officer action, root cause analysis of complaints, improved customer databases to prevent fraud, adherence to Treating Customers Fairly principles including clarity of liability and product simplicity, and preparedness for forthcoming comprehensive RBI consumer protection regulations imposing explicit customer rights and banker duties.

Risk management in banks: stronger capital, liquidity and macro prudential safeguards to contain systemic vulnerabilities.
Risk management requires identification, measurement, monitoring and reporting to ensure returns align with risk appetite and preserve solvency. Basel III raises loss absorbing capital quality and quantity, prescribes capital buffers, a leverage back stop, and liquidity standards (LCR and NSFR). The Reserve Bank of India is implementing these standards in phases with augmented national measures-enhanced disclosures, liquidity guidance, securitisation norms, exposure limits, frameworks for domestic systemic banks, a proposed Countercyclical Capital Buffer, and forward looking provisioning-while emphasising governance, independent risk functions, MIS, stress testing and balanced use of models and judgment.

Banking Regulation Act penalty imposed for breaches of KYC and related party lending rules and inspection noncompliance
Imposition of a monetary penalty on Vyavasayik Evam Audyogik Sahakari Bank Ltd. under Section 47A(1)(b) read with Section 46(4) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (as applicable to co operative societies) for violations including breach of section 20, non compliance with RBI directives on loans against warehouse receipts, credit exposure ceilings, director related loans, donations, KYC/AML deficiencies, and failure to address inspection report findings following a Show Cause Notice and the bank's written reply.

KYC and AML non compliance prompts regulatory monetary penalty against a cooperative bank under banking regulation powers.
The Reserve Bank imposed a monetary penalty on a district central co operative bank under the Banking Regulation Act (as applicable to co operative societies) for non adherence to KYC norms and AML guidelines after issuing a show cause notice, considering the bank's written reply and personal submissions, and concluding the violations were substantiated.