New Delhi, Sep 9 (PTI) India's merchandise exports are estimated to register a growth of about 15 per cent in April-August this fiscal despite global uncertainties, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday. Addressing the BRICS Women's Business Alliance (WBA) Women-Led Development Summit 2026 here, he said that huge potential exists between India and BRICS nations to increase trade in goods and services. "Despite all the turmoil that the world is going through today...... ... ...

Cognizance of a prosecution complaint for money laundering was taken against the principal accused and co-accused, with summonses issued. The material prima facie indicated generation of proceeds of crime through alleged fraudulent conduct and their projection as untainted property. The alleged mechanism involved benami accounts, use of devotees' identity documents without consent, and routing of funds through bank accounts, a cooperative credit society and family members' accounts. Co-accused were alleged to have aided and abetted the laundering activities.

GST revenue growth must be calculated on a comparable tax base using the same levies for both periods. CBIC treats year-on-year growth based on Central GST, State GST and Integrated GST as the appropriate comparison and considers the inclusion of compensation cess from a different levy structure misleading. Compensation cess was discontinued except for tobacco and related products from 22 September 2025, with the remaining tobacco-related cess removed from 1 February 2026. Revenue tables separately display cess, while growth calculations use the corresponding GST tax base.

Aadhaar-registration certificate mismatches affecting vehicle-related services may be resolved through manual acceptance and processing of applications after verification of identity documents. Where the owner's name or address differs, officials may examine Aadhaar, voter identity card, PAN card or passport, correct the registration certificate, and process vehicle transfers or no-objection certificate applications. Owners may alternatively update Aadhaar details where required by the online system. Relevant documents must be scanned and preserved before subsequent processing.

Prevention of Money Laundering Act proceedings concerned allegations of dubious account transactions by a newspaper publisher and entities linked to its director. Investigative scrutiny alleged substantial cash deposits, closure of accounts after cash deposits, bitcoin purchases from purportedly tainted sources without identifiable business rationale, and inflation of claimed newspaper circulation to obtain higher advertisement revenue. Searches led to seizure of documents and digital devices, while the publishing company's bank accounts were frozen.

INNOPROM.India International Industrial Trade Fair in New Delhi is scheduled to facilitate trade, technology engagement and commercial cooperation between Moscow-based industrial enterprises and Indian customers. A Moscow collective stand will feature high-technology products and solutions, while participating companies will engage potential customers. Export-support arrangements include funding for exhibit transport and meetings with foreign partners. Wider support includes information, financial, insurance and logistics assistance, as well as digital access to expert advice, analytics, marketplace promotion assistance and online training.

Enforcement action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act involved searches of premises linked to a publishing company, associated entities, directors and a promoter, with bank accounts frozen. Account scrutiny allegedly identified cash deposits, closed accounts and Bitcoin purchases from tainted sources without identifiable business rationale. The investigation also alleged inflation of newspaper circulation figures to misrepresent readership and obtain higher advertising revenue, in connection with an FIR alleging communal disharmony and dubious account transactions.

Validity of prosecution sanction under the Prevention of Corruption Act cannot be examined at the discharge stage because the statutory bar restricts such challenge at that point. Discharge of the accused in the predicate corruption prosecution on that basis is therefore unsustainable. Quashing of connected money-laundering proceedings, being consequential to the predicate-case discharge, is likewise unsustainable. The validity of sanction and all other issues remain open for determination during trial.

Bail orders may be annulled without supervening circumstances where they are perverse, legally untenable, rely on suspect or irrelevant material, or overlook the seriousness of accusations and criminal antecedents. Suppression of antecedents and other material particulars undermines informed bail discretion and constitutes abuse of process. Applicants should disclose antecedents, prior and pending bail applications, coercive processes, custody details and procedural status by affidavit; an illustrative recommendatory framework promotes transparency. Transfer of a completed investigation after filing of a chargesheet requires cogent evidence of bias, mala fides, improper investigation, extraneous influence, or a need to restore public confidence; absent such material, transfer should be declined.

Section 24-B of the Madhya Pradesh VAT Act permits settlement only where its prescribed conditions are met, including a tax dispute pending before the High Court and hardship arising from an order under the Act. An assessment left unchallenged for eight years despite available appellate or revisional remedies cannot be addressed through settlement jurisdiction as a substitute for those remedies. In the absence of a pending High Court dispute or qualifying hardship, settlement is unavailable and recovery proceedings are not restrained. A precedent concerning stay of recovery during settlement proceedings does not apply where these threshold conditions are absent.

Small Form Factor Pluggable modules used in routers are classified as router parts under Customs Tariff Item 8517 7090 where they have no identifiable independent function or standalone operational capability. Their functionality depends on insertion into dedicated router chassis slots and on the router's control, timing and software systems. This functional dependence makes the modules integral components of routers rather than independent networking apparatus classifiable under Customs Tariff Item 8517 6290.

Brokerage expenditure for facilitating property sales is fully allowable where the recipient is not a related party, has offered the receipt to tax, and no independent material, comparable instance, or verification shows that the payment exceeds market value. Restricting the deduction solely by reference to an earlier year is unsupported. Unsold flats constructed for sale and recorded as closing stock retain their character as business stock-in-trade. In a construction-and-sale business, such assets are not subject to notional annual letting value under the house-property provisions; income connected with them falls under the business-income framework.

Corporate guarantee pricing for associated enterprises is addressed at a 0.5% arm's-length charge rather than 1%. Interest on borrowings used for a subsidiary's equity investment requires verification under directions applicable to an earlier year. Disallowance of indirect expenditure relating to exempt income is computed by considering only investments that generated exempt income, while the interest component requires reconsideration after any related interest disallowance. Singapore withholding-tax credit, brought-forward business-loss set-off, minimum alternate tax credit and dividend-distribution-tax credit remain subject to applicable earlier directions, legal verification and consideration of a pending rectification application.

Section 14A disallowance does not extend to interest expenditure where the taxpayer's own non-interest-bearing funds exceed investments. Rule 8D indirect-expenditure computation is confined to investments that generated exempt income during the relevant year. The Finance Act 2022 amendment to section 14A applies from 1 April 2022 and does not operate retrospectively for earlier assessment years. For minimum alternate tax purposes, the section 14A and Rule 8D computation mechanism cannot be imported into the adjustment under clause (f) of Explanation 1 to section 115JB(2). Accordingly, such disallowance cannot be added to book profit on that basis.

A reassessment notice for assessment year 2015-16 was invalid under the first proviso to section 149(1) because it was issued after the prescribed limitation period. The recorded reasons did not allege that the assessee had failed to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for assessment, a condition relevant to reopening beyond the ordinary period. The assessment founded on the time-barred notice was consequently quashed in favour of the assessee.

Timely filing of the prescribed audit report in Form 10BB is a condition precedent to exemption under Section 11. Where the report is not filed by the specified date, the exemption claim is unsupported at the relevant time and constitutes an incorrect claim capable of adjustment during return processing under Section 143(1). Consequently, exemption under Section 11 may be denied through such processing adjustment when Form 10BB is filed late.

Cash deposits during demonetisation require evaluation on the totality of business evidence under the unexplained cash credit framework. Regular month-wise cash sales, corresponding bank deposits, stock reconciliation and use of cash for business purchases can establish the source of deposits. Treating recorded cash sales as genuine while rejecting bank deposits generated from those sales is internally inconsistent. Deposits that conform to an established pattern of cash sales and banking cannot be treated as unexplained merely because they were made during demonetisation; the resulting addition is unsustainable.

NRE fixed deposits established through bank certificates and an affidavit as renewals of pre-existing deposits cannot be treated as separate unexplained investments without supporting material. Once the accepted source of the deposits is demonstrated, the Department must produce evidence of any distinct further investment; the taxpayer has no obligation to explain an unsubstantiated additional amount. The addition under Section 69 was deleted because no material showed that the renewed deposits represented fresh unexplained investment.

Section 69A addition for alleged bogus unsecured loans was deleted because loan confirmations, bank records and lender-related material remained unverified or undisproved. Documentary production did not by itself conclusively establish transaction genuineness, but the revenue did not investigate the lenders' source of funds or rebut the assessee's evidence of loan repayments and interest payments. In the absence of contrary verification, the loans could not be treated as unexplained money.

PAN-linked bank accounts can support initiation of assessment proceedings where cash deposits were made in an account whose PAN and partnership details were not updated, despite a claim that the original partnership firm no longer existed. Continued use of the account meant that proceedings initiated against the entity identified through its linked PAN were not invalid on that ground. However, the assertion that the deposits belonged to a newly constituted firm required examination. Fresh assessment following verification of deposit ownership was therefore justified.