GST refund norms eased; officers lose arrest powers

The Goods and Ser-vices Tax (GST) Council on Thurs-day took a slew of decisions in its 57th meeting here to enhance simplification, improve certainty in tax treatment, remove holdups in the processing of the compliance burden on input tax credits, and ease businesses, especially smaller ones.

Adequate response

The RBI policy review will need central assistance to effectively fight inflation

After months of waiting and watching, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to act to try to rein in rising inflation. Its decision to raise interest rates by 25 bps seemed increasingly inevitable. The RBI now projects retail inflation at 4.9% in Q2, higher than its August projection of 4.7%. This is set to rise in Q3 to 6% before easing marginally to 5.7% in Q4.

Calibrating India's inbound investment framework

Following the successful 18th BRICS Summit, in New Delhi in September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's planned December visits to Canada and Brussels, where formal free trade agreements (FTAs) are expected to be signed, signal consistency in institutionalising India's global economic footprint. The trade push, alongside domestic structural reforms and a new FTA strategy, has changed India's investment trajectory.

Global cooperation is needed now to tackle cybercrime: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for global cooperation on cybercrime and financial cyber fraud, and said that "technology achieves scale only when it earns trust".

Govt. notifies CAPF Act amid challenge pending before SC

The Ministry of Home Affairs notified that the Central Armed Police Forces (General Administration) Act, 2026, will come into force from Thursday (October 8), nearly five months after the legislation was passed by Parlia-ment, even as its constitu-tional validity is under challenge before the Supreme Court.

Govt. to cap trade margins at 30% of MRP for cancer drugs

In a bid to make cancer treatment more affordable and reduce patients' out-of-pocket expenditure, the Union government has decided to cap trade margins at 30% of the maximum retail price (MRP) for all non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs. The measure will cover branded and generic drugs, domestically manufactured and imported medicines, and patented and non-patented products.

Form panel to check pharma practices, SC directs govt.

Underlining the need to strengthen existing regulatory regime to curb unethical pharmaceutical marketing practices, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Union government to constitute an expert committee within two weeks.

Canadian poet Anne Carson wins Nobel Prize in literature

Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Caron won the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday for playful, genreblending works that fuse the classi-cal and the modern. The Torontoborn Carson, 76, draws on themes and stories from ancient Greek and Roman literature for writing that often blends elements of poetry, essay and fiction.

U.S. suspends major IT firms from green card programme

The U.S. government is Microsoft, suspending Adobe and several large IT firms from a programme that allows skilled foreign workers to gain permanent residency, senior U.S. officials announced on Thursday, citing alleged fraud, and as part of an effort to push companies to hire more Americans.

Closing the gaps in early childhood eye care

The WHO reports that there are approximately 19 million visually impaired children in the world, and 1.4 million are blind. In India, about 3 lakh children are said to be blind. Nearly half of these cases are entirely preventable or treatable if caught in time