India and Japan are considering a review of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement to make the bilateral trade framework more contemporary and expand its scope, scale and commercial opportunities. The review is linked to balanced trade and to identifying export barriers arising from procedural requirements, language issues and time involved in market access. Regulatory compliance assistance may support product registrations required for overseas markets, including costly chemical registrations and pharmaceutical registrations.

Arunachal Pradesh State GST revises the Serial No. 1 entry for specified supplies distributed through government-approved welfare programmes. The entry covers unit-container food preparations for free distribution to economically weaker sections and Fortified Rice Kernel (Premix) supplied for ICDS or similar approved schemes. The related condition replaces "food preparations" with "goods", and the amendments take effect from 1 October 2021.

The introductory provision for the special procedure applicable to registered manufacturers of specified goods is amended to state that the procedure will operate from 1 January 2024. This effective-date qualification is deemed to have been inserted from 31 July 2023, attaching both a stated operational date and a deemed insertion date to the existing special procedure.

Constitution of the Tamil Nadu Authority for Advance Ruling under section 96(1) of the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 establishes a two-member State advance-ruling body. The members are Tmt. D. Jayapriya, Additional Commissioner of GST and Central Excise, and Tmt. T. Indira, Joint Commissioner (Commercial Taxes) holding full additional charge. The revised composition replaces the earlier constitution of the advance-ruling mechanism.

Special procedure for registered persons engaged in manufacturing specified goods stands withdrawn under the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, through rescission of the earlier notification that prescribed that procedure. Actions already taken, or omissions occurring, before the rescission remain unaffected. The rescission is deemed effective from 1 January 2024.

Arunachal Pradesh GST rate schedules are amended retrospectively from 1 July 2017. Mineral or chemical fertilisers under tariff headings 3102, 3103, 3104 and 3105 are inserted in the 2.5% State tax schedule when not clearly intended for non-fertiliser use. Specified Schedule II entries are omitted, while nitrogenous fertilisers clearly not intended for use as fertilisers are placed in the 9% State tax schedule. The Schedule I coverage for Chapter 30 is expanded, and spectacles are revised to exclude corrective spectacles.

Loan Utsav 2026 provides a limited-period reward bundle to eligible customers whose personal loan is successfully disbursed during the campaign period, subject to applicable terms and conditions. Personal loans are collateral-free and available subject to eligibility, customer profile, documentation and applicable loan terms. Applicants may choose a loan amount and repayment tenure based on their requirements. Extended tenures can reduce monthly EMI obligations but may increase total interest payable. Customers should review interest rates, EMI, processing charges, other loan costs and repayment capacity before accepting a loan offer.

Tamil Nadu SGST Schedule I entries taxable at 2.5% are amended by substituting the tariff-classification entries against serial numbers 165 and 165A. Both entries are revised to cover tariff headings 2711 12 00, 2711 13 00 and 2711 19 10. The substituted classifications apply with deemed effect from 4 January 2024.

The concessional GST rate for composite works contracts supplied to Government Entities excludes works intended for commerce, industry, business, or profession. The exclusion of public-authority activities from business applies only to the Central Government, State Government, and local authorities, not to Governmental Authorities or Government Entities. Tourism ropeway construction is business-oriented, is not covered by entries concerning roads, bridges, terminals, or railways, and falls under entry 3(xii), attracting GST at 18%.

Arunachal Pradesh SGST registration exemption is corrected by omitting the words "section 23" appearing in the first line after the words "section 3 of" in Notification No. 2/2017-State Tax dated 28 June 2017.

Arunachal Pradesh State Tax rate schedule is corrected at two entries. Serial number 59 is amended by replacing the reference to heading "9" with "7, 9 or 10". Serial number 102 is amended by replacing the reference to heading "2302" with "2301, 2302". These corrections apply for the purposes of Notification No. 2/2017-State Tax (Rate).

Cash deposits made during the demonetisation period were treated as satisfactorily explained where they were linked to earlier withdrawals retained for the assessee's daughter's marriage. The inference that substantial marriage expenditure must have depleted those funds could not be sustained without material disproving the explanation. A simple marriage conducted at a Gurudwara with close relatives was not shown to be inconsistent with retention of the withdrawn cash. The addition as unexplained money was therefore deleted.

Reverse-charge liability for certain specified supplies of goods is amended by substituting the recipient entry against serial number 6. The revised entry covers the Central Government, excluding the Ministry of Railways (Indian Railways), State Government, Union territory and local authority. The substituted recipient classification takes effect from 20 October 2023.

Separately supplied laterals and parts of sprinklers or drip irrigation systems attract the GST rate applicable to those systems where they are classifiable under the specified irrigation-equipment heading and are suitable solely or principally for such use. Parts of general use, if classifiable under another heading under the applicable Section and Chapter Notes, attract GST at the rate applicable to that respective heading.

Tamil Nadu State tax exemption is extended to food preparations of millet flour in powder form, classified under tariff heading 1901, where millets constitute at least 70% by weight. The exemption applies only where the products are not pre-packaged and labelled, and is deemed effective from 20 October 2023.

Tamil Nadu State tax rate schedules are amended to include molasses and qualifying pre-packaged and labelled millet-flour powder preparations in the 2.5% schedule. The 9% schedule is revised for specified food preparations and expanded to include spirits for industrial use. The first serial entry in the 14% schedule is omitted. The revised rate treatment is deemed effective from 20 October 2023.

Unclaimed TDS credit relating to professional receipts already offered to tax may be sought through rectification under Section 154 where a return processed under Section 143(1) omitted TDS reflected in Form 26AS or AIS. TDS credit is linked to assessment of the corresponding income under Section 199 read with Rule 37BA. The rectification request should provide a TDS-wise reconciliation showing the deductor, corresponding professional receipt, inclusion in presumptive turnover, income offered, and credit claimed.

Entry 23A exempts annuity consideration only for access to a road or bridge under heading 9967. Road construction is classified separately under heading 9954, including construction of highways, streets, roads, bridges and tunnels. Where road-construction consideration is partly paid upfront and partly through deferred annual instalments called annuities, the payment structure does not change the nature of the service. Consequently, deferred annuity payments for road construction do not qualify for the exemption applicable to road-access annuities.

Erratum inserts an omitted concluding commencement clause in the annexure governing amendments under the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The clause gives deemed retrospective commencement to the operative measure, treating it as having entered into force from 8 October 2024. It fixes temporal application from that specified prior date and expressly records the commencement basis applicable to the annexure's amendments.

India-Japan startup cooperation is proposed to advance through a deep-tech capital corridor, a two-way innovation bridge, manufacturing and technology integration, and joint startup pitching platforms. Collaboration is directed towards patient capital, early-stage research, deep-tech commercialisation, technology validation, precision manufacturing, investment and market access. The partnership also emphasises MSME integration with startups and global supply chains, co-investment mechanisms, plug-and-play infrastructure, and institutional links among universities, research institutions, incubators and industry.