Editor's Pick

Dear Reader,

The Income Tax Bill 2025 may give tax officials legal backing to scrutinise your digital footprint. Under the proposed law, the?taxman can access encrypted messages, cloud storage, and digital asset exchanges?if they have reason to believe that a person has concealed taxable income or cryptocurrency holdings, reports Meghna Mittal. The bill is currently under review by a select committee of Parliament.

The?Eighth Pay Commission is likely to be set up soon, paving the way for salary revisions of 50 lakh central government employees and pensioners, reports Meghna Mittal. The finance ministry will soon be sending the Commission’s terms of reference for cabinet approval, expected by early next month. Once constituted, the commission will review and recommend salary structure revisions by March next year.

The stock market’s recent rebound over the past few days may have brought back a lot of positivity but?subdued cash volumes show that investors are still being cautious. Ravindra Sonavane writes that the combined average daily cash turnover of NSE and BSE so far this month stands at Rs 1 lakh crore - 3 percent up from last month. For context, the current cash market turnover is still down 40 percent below its June 2024 high point.

IndusInd Bank, which is dealing with discovery of huge derivatives losses, is hunting for a new CEO and at least seven other top executives in a leadership overhaul set to kick off in April, reports Hamsini Karthik. She writes that?top recruiters Egon Zehnder and Korn Ferry are likely to be tapped?to identify candidates for key positions. A new CEO is likely to be identified by October.

With BJP presenting its first state budget for Delhi in over a quarter of a century. Ishaan Gera writes in our chart of the day that the?national capital is doubling its capex spending and its total expenditure?to Rs 1 lakh crore but will widen its fiscal deficit ninefold to Rs 13,703 crore in FY26, according to Ishaan Gera. Chief minister Rekha Gupta’s government is expected to avert slipping into a revenue deficit - its revenue surplus is projected to rise to Rs 9,661 crore, due to higher non-tax revenue, especially transfers from the Centre.

In the fintech world, Paytm has joined the likes of Razorpay, Cashfree, and PhonePe?in ditching third-party payment platforms?such as Juspay, opting for direct transaction processing instead, report Chandra R Srikanth and Naina Sood. The move signals a broader industry trend away from intermediaries and towards more streamlined payment processes. Paytm, from April 1, will only facilitate transactions routed directly through its payment services arm.

India's proposal to remove the 6 percent equalisation levy on online advertising services will not only give a shot in the arm for global tech giants such as Google and Meta, it could lead to a surge in ad spending and further boost the country’s rapidly growing digital ecosystem, especially startups and small businesses. Check out Vikas SN and Maryam Farooqui’s?piece on how.

With assistant US trade representative Brendan Lynch landing in New Delhi today, for a crucial round of trade talks ahead of Trump’s 2 April tariff deadline, read Adrija Chatterjee’s roundup on?how India is looking to strike a bilateral deal, offering lower tariffs on apples and walnuts in return for securing an exception from Trump's tit-for-tat tariff plan. Also check out R Sreeram’s MC Pro piece on?how upcoming tariff wars are changing the demand outlook?of IT companies. Moneycontrol reports that India has also?scrapped import duties on parts needed to make EV batteries?and phones in order to boost domestic production and exports.

And finally, with delimitation of Lok Sabha seats becoming a political hot potato, Ishaan Gera crunched the numbers to find that?Tamil Nadu's Lok Sabha seat share may shrink dramatically?- to 49 of a new 888-member house, if population is used as a criterion for delimitation post-2026. In contrast, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh will be at least 10 percent under-represented if there's a freeze on delimitation.

Regards,

Nalin Mehta

Managing Editor

Moneycontrol

?