Merchant Discount Rate at 0.4 per cent will apply from October 15 to person-to-merchant UPI payments above Rs 2,000, payable by merchants and subject to a cap for high-value transactions. Individual transfers and most everyday merchant payments remain free, while eligible small QR-code merchants are exempt. Essential-service payments and capital-market transactions receive separate fee treatment, and a portion of MDR collections will support small-merchant UPI adoption.

Composition levy treatment under the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 is amended under the proviso to section 10(1) on the recommendations of the Goods and Services Tax Council. The entry in column (3) against serial number 4 in the relevant table is replaced with "Fly ash bricks; Fly ash aggregates; Fly ash blocks". The change is confined to that specified goods entry.

Tata Sons' board approved by majority vote the Executive Chairman's reappointment for a further five-year term after he reconsidered an earlier decision not to seek renewal. Tata Trusts contest the validity of the resolution, maintaining that the Articles of Association require affirmative votes from both Trust-nominated directors and that a dissenting vote renders a chairmanship resolution legally void. They also cite the accepted succession process and unresolved directorship status arising from a general meeting lacking quorum.

Covered persons must furnish FORM GST CMP-08 containing details of self-assessed tax payments. This additional Odisha GST compliance obligation applies to the quarter ending 30 June 2022 and must be completed by 31 July 2022. It specifies the prescribed form, reporting content, quarterly period, and filing deadline.

Reporting persons or entities receiving Form No. 97 declarations for transactions covered by rule 159 must furnish Form No. 98 electronically by 31 October for declarations received by 30 September and by 30 April of the following financial year for declarations received by 31 March. They must register on the Reporting Portal, obtain an ITDREIN, and upload digitally signed statements through the principal officer's credentials. Existing Form No. 61 registrants may use their existing ITDREIN and principal officer. Inaccuracies and Data Quality Report defects require correction statements, while inadvertently filed reports may be removed through deletion statements. Entities must maintain information-security, archival and retrieval procedures. The procedure applies from 15 September 2026; earlier-year reporting remains under Form No. 61.

Recognition of NSE Clearing Limited as a clearing corporation is renewed for a three-year period from 3 October 2026 to 2 October 2029. The renewed recognition is subject to compliance with conditions specified from time to time and any further conditions that may be prescribed or imposed. The renewal permits the clearing corporation to continue operating within the applicable securities-market regulatory framework during that term.

Recognition of Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India Limited under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 is renewed for one year, from 16 September 2026 to 15 September 2027, for contracts in securities. The renewal is subject to compliance with conditions prescribed or subsequently imposed by SEBI from time to time. The exchange may continue operating under the renewed recognition during that period, subject to those regulatory conditions.

Tariff values for specified imports are substituted under the customs valuation framework with effect from 16 September 2026. Listed edible oils, including crude and refined palm oil, palmolein and soybean oil, are valued between US$1,219 and US$1,268 per metric tonne, while brass scrap is valued at US$8,218 per metric tonne. Specified gold forms, including qualifying concessional imports and identified bullion and coins, carry a tariff value of US$1,373 per 10 grams; specified silver forms carry US$2,028 per kilogram. Areca nuts remain at US$11,574 per metric tonne. These substituted values govern customs valuation of the identified goods.

Physical presence of goods in an intermediate State therefore does not alone create authority to detain, seize, penalise or confiscate. Cross-empowerment is functional and taxpayer-linked, preserving the single-interface administrative structure without creating geographically unlimited enforcement power. Where verification establishes that both origin and destination lie outside the intercepting State, the officer may verify documents, identify and record apparent discrepancies, and communicate them to the proper officers of the consignor and consignee, but lacks coercive jurisdiction over a pure transit supply.

Under section 128 of the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, the fifth proviso is amended by substituting the prescribed date of 30 June 2022 with 28 July 2022. The amendment, made on the recommendations of the Goods and Services Tax Council, solely moves the temporal date specified in that proviso; no other alteration is set out.

For ten years from publication, eligibility for appointment as a Technical Member (State) is available to a Government of Goa officer who has completed at least twenty-five years of Government service as a Gazetted Officer, replacing the requirement of twenty-five years' service in Group A or an equivalent grade. All remaining appointment conditions continue to apply, and actions taken or omitted before supersession remain unaffected.

International Hardware Fair India 2026 is scheduled for 23-25 October 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, as a trade platform for the tools and hardware sector. Organised by Koelnmesse in association with the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, it is intended to facilitate product discovery, sourcing activity and exploration of domestic and international markets. Its Reverse Buyer-Seller Meet will bring hosted international buyers together with Indian manufacturers and suppliers for direct discussions on product presentations, buyer requirements and export-market opportunities.

86400 has expanded its financial-services technology portfolio through CardsXT as a Service, a UPI app experience and IBMB, extending its activities across card-programme infrastructure, consumer-facing digital payments and digital banking. CardsXT is intended to let banks and fintechs build, launch and manage card programmes through an integrated offering, with flexibility to develop and scale card products while reducing card-lifecycle technology complexity. The UPI app experience provides a platform developed by 86400 for a more seamless consumer UPI payments experience.

Penalty for concealment or furnishing inaccurate particulars cannot rest solely on a transfer-pricing adjustment where the taxpayer disclosed international transactions, and the transactional net margin method and comparables were accepted. Rejection of claimed adjustments in the transfer-pricing study, followed by estimated attribution of expenses to associated-enterprise transactions without a corresponding adjustment for non-associated-enterprise expenditure, does not establish false or concealed particulars. As penalty proceedings are independent of assessment proceedings, an estimated or ad hoc addition without a specific finding of concealment or inaccurate particulars does not sustain penalty under section 271(1)(c).

The thematic programme covers the macroeconomic outlook, financing agricultural transformation, and financing the energy transition. Background material addresses macroeconomic pathways, private financing, implications of GST 2.0 for States, agricultural markets and marketing, agricultural resilience and sustainable resource use, renewable energy and transmission assets, and carbon capture, utilisation and storage. Further sessions address measurement of growth outcomes and the contribution of new-age technology to good governance.

Limitation periods for recovery of tax not paid or short paid and wrongly availed or utilised input tax credit are modified. For the financial year 2017-18, the deadline for issuing a recovery order is extended until 30 September 2023. The period from 1 March 2020 to 28 February 2022 is excluded when calculating limitation for recovery of erroneous refunds and filing refund applications.

GST-sensitive festive planning for apparel businesses requires early procurement, phased inventory, supplier reorder commitments and separate stock strategies for the post-Diwali wedding season. Pricing and costing require assessment of the revised GST structure for readymade garments and GST-rate reductions affecting man-made fibres and yarns. Proper purchase documentation is important for protecting input tax credit during high-volume festive transactions. Cash-flow planning, credit limits, return policies, retail staffing, digital campaigns and weekly sell-through monitoring support replenishment and pricing decisions.

Reverse-charge State tax is inapplicable to qualifying goods transport agency suppliers that are registered, elect forward-charge taxation, issue tax invoices charging applicable State tax, and furnish the prescribed declaration. Annexure III confirms registration and the election to pay tax under forward charge. Services by way of renting of residential dwelling to a registered person are brought within reverse-charge scope, with any person as supplier and the registered person as recipient.

Input tax credit under the CGST Act is conditional on the supplier's actual payment of tax to the Government; invoice possession, receipt of supplies and GSTR-2B reflection do not independently establish final eligibility. Section 16(2) conditions operate cumulatively, with the claimant bearing the burden of proving eligibility. Under Section 41(2) and Rule 37A, credit attributable to supplier non-payment must be reversed with applicable interest where prescribed, but may be re-availed when the supplier furnishes the relevant return and pays tax. The condition is treated as substantive, not as unconstitutional deprivation or double taxation, and cannot be read down to exempt bona fide recipients absent fraud or collusion.

Sections 73 and 74 do not expressly bar a common show cause notice covering multiple tax periods or financial years. The expressions "for any period" and "such periods" support consolidation, while financial-year references in the limitation provisions govern the deadline for adjudication orders rather than the scope of notice issuance. Each component demand must independently satisfy applicable limitation requirements. Section 74 requires disclosed material supporting fraud, wilful misstatement, or suppression of facts to evade tax; its extended limitation is not automatic.