A look at the headlines in this sector right now:

  1. Lok Sabha passes Finance Bill without including Rajya Sabha’s proposed amendments: Opposition members in the Upper House had sent the legislation back to the Lower House with five proposed changes.
  2. CAG approaches Finance Ministry after GST Network denies access to taxpayers’ data for audit: The GSTN is a special-purpose private firm set up to provide IT support to roll out the new tax regime and serve as a repository for all GST-related data.
  3. A simpler form for filing income tax returns will be available from April 1: It will have fewer columns that need to be filled as some of the deductions have been clubbed together.
  4. Centre announces 45 new air routes under its regional connectivity scheme: The flights linking 31 cities under the Udan – Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik – initiative are expected to be operational within four to six months.
  5. Centre says India has become a net exporter of electricity for the first time: More than 5,700 million units were exported to Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar between April 2016 and February 2017.
  6. Last Nehruvian five-year plan gets a six-month extension for schemes not implemented yet: The Finance Ministry said that all these schemes will have to be implemented by September 30 this year, and not March 31 as was declared earlier.
  7. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos becomes the second richest person in the world: The company’s founder added $1.5 billion to his net worth following the news that online retailer will buy Dubai-based e-commerce giant Souq.