The exemption limit of which tax is doubled to give relief to small businesses.

The Asian Development Bank downgraded economic growth forecasts for India and Southeast Asia for 2019 as global risks from trade tensions to Brexit mount. According to the ADB's latest Asian Development Outlook report, gross domestic product in India will probably increase by 7.2 % in 2019, down from a December forecast of 7.6%.

Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has allowed custodial services in the commodity derivatives market. The move is aimed at enabling the participation of institutional investors such as mutual funds and portfolio managers in the commodity derivatives market. Under the new framework, existing custodians will be permitted to add commodities as an asset class and provide physical delivery of both the securities and commodities. Currently, the regulation on the custodian of securities provides safekeeping of securities, gold or gold related instruments, title deeds of real estate and incidental services.

All India Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) by NABARD was released. According to the survey; more than 88 per cent of rural householdshave bank accounts. Only about 24per cent of the 88% of rural households use ATM services at least once in three months, 7.4per cent of these households use debit or credit card. 7.5per cent use cheque to make a payment at least once in three months.

For promoting the adoption of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has reduced the transaction fees up to Rs 1,000 by 60%. For UPI transactions up to Rs.1,000, the charge has been cut to 10 paise from 25 paise, and for transactions above Rs.1,000 has been retained at 50 paise. This will help the service provider banks, third-party applications and at the same time will also help the consumers in the long run as more cash backs and incentives can get offered. At present Google Pay, Paytm and PhonePe are aggressively promoting UPI by offering case back and other benefits.

As per the World Bank, India's GDP growth is expected to accelerate moderately to 7.5% in Fiscal Year 19-20, driven by continued investment strengthening, particularly private-improved export performance and resilient consumption. The real GDP growth is estimated at 7.2% in FY18/19, the World Bank said in its latest report on South Asia ahead of the spring meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP) 2018 aims to attract USD 100 billion investment and create 4 million jobs in the sector by 2022. According to the draft of the policy, NDCP is focused on increasing high-speed broadband penetration, with use of modern technologies like 5G and optical fibres across the country at affordable rates.

According to Reserve Bank of India data, the bank credit grew by 13.24 percent in financial year 2019 (FY19) to Rs 97.67 lakh crore as compared to 10.3 percent in FY18 and the deposits up by 10.03 percent in FY19 to Rs 125.72 lakh crore as compare to 6.7 percent in FY18. Additional Information According to the data available till February 2019, the credit growth in service sector was 23.7 percent and in retail sector it was 16.7 percent. Overall credit growth in the industry sector was 5.6%.

The Reserve Bank of India, in consultation with the government, has decided to have a rule-based dynamic limit for outstanding stock of External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) at 6.5% of GDP at current market prices. As per the statement based on the GDP figures, the soft limit works out to $160 billion for the current financial year. The outstanding stock of ECBs as on September 30, 2018, stands at $126.29 billion.

India and Singapore have signed the Second Protocol amending the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement in New Delhi which will boost bilateral trade between the two countries. The Protocol was signed in New Delhi by Rajneesh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Francis Chong, Senior Director, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Government of Singapore.

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal announces 20% Cashback upto Rs 100 for the Digital Transactions done via BHIM, Rupay or USSD mode. The main aim of the meeting on the concerns and suggestions of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. About GST Goods and Services Tax (GST) is an indirect tax (or consumption tax) levied in India on the supply of goods and service.