Author: NNI Editor

As digital economies expand and blockchain technology reshapes global finance, governments worldwide are grappling with the classification, regulation and taxation of Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs). India’s Income Tax Bill, 2025 introduces a comprehensive legal framework for VDAs defined in Section 2(111), aligning the country’s tax structure with global precedents. This move is crucial, considering how major economies like the U.K., the U.S., Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and the UAE have approached VDAs — primarily as property or securities.VDAs as property and capital assetsFor the first time in India, the Income Tax Bill, 2025 explicitly treats VDAs as property (Section 92…

A view of the proposed site for the Parandur Green field Airport at Egnapuram village in Kancheepuram in 2024. | Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ. B The story so far: More than three years after its announcement, the second airport project for Chennai at Parandur is finally inching closer to its final approval. The Minister of Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu who visited Chennai on February 27, said that the in-principle approval is likely to be accorded within the next two weeks. However, villagers, farmers and environmentalists have been persistently opposing the project for last three years. Also Read: Farmers to…

Amazon has invested a total of $8 billion in Anthropic, while Google-parent Alphabet has invested $2 billion in the startup [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS Anthropic on Monday announced it has raised $3.5 billion in a funding round that valued the artificial intelligence startup at $61.5 billion.Anthropic said the capital will be put to work advancing its AI systems, expanding its computing capacity, and speeding up its international expansion.The funding round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, and the list of those taking part included Salesforce Ventures, Fidelity Management, and Bessemer Venture Partners, according to Anthropic.Anthropic last week released what…

Poonawalla Fincorp, a Cyrus Poonawalla Group entity, has launched PL Prime Digital 24×7, a digital personal loan offering designed to meet the needs of salaried professionals seeking quick access to credit.“The PL Prime Digital 24×7 Loan enables eligible customers to bypass traditional loan processes and avail loans up to ₹15 lakh in just 15 minutes through a completely paperless process. It also provides the flexibility to choose longer EMI tenures and comes with a zero collateral requirement,” the NBFC said.Arvind Kapil, MD & CEO, Poonawalla Fincorp, said, “We are addressing the demand for an end-to-end digital solution that eliminates the…

Union Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia addresses the gathering during the Mobile World Congress 2025 event, in New Delhi on Monday (March 3, 2025). | Photo Credit: X/Jyotiraditya M. Scindia via ANI Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, that the 2025 edition of the India Mobile Congress, an annual event organised by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), will be held from October 8–11. The event brings together telecom operators, equipment manufacturers and government bodies showcasing their telecom advances.The 2025 edition will focus on…

In this image released by @AshwiniVaishnaw via X on March 3, 2025 Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw meets Sandeep Dutta, President, India & South Asia, Amazon Web Services (AWS). | Photo Credit: (@AshwiniVaishnaw via PTI Photo) Amazon’s cloud services provider, Amazon Web Services, will invest about $8.2 billion in India’s western state of Maharashtra over the next few years, the Information Technology Ministry said on Monday.India has been stepping up its efforts to pilot local cloud data storage. According to a report by International Data Corporation, the country’s cloud services market — estimated at $8.3 billion in 2023 — is…

Market infrastructure institutions (MIIs), which comprise stock exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories, said they had successfully implemented the Direct Payout Settlement mechanism for securities under the guidance of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). “This initiative enhances efficiency, transparency, and investor protection, ensuring seamless direct credit of securities to clients’ demat accounts. The mechanism strengthens market integrity and operational efficiency,” the MIIs said in a statement. Published – March 03, 2025 09:47 pm IST Source link

Representative image | Photo Credit: Reuters The rupee declined 19 paise to 87.37 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on Friday (February 28, 2025), as the strength of the American currency and a negative trend in domestic equities dented investor sentiments. Forex traders said the ongoing uncertainty surrounding tariff imposition by the U.S. has left financial markets in flux. Moreover, the tariff chaos has injected volatility and uncertainty into the U.S. Dollar Index. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 87.32, then fell to 87.37 against the American currency, registering a decline of 19 paise over its…

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that government spending could be separated from gross domestic product reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.”Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the U.S. economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because…

The European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates again this week in a bid to boost the floundering eurozone economy, even as debate heats up about when to hit pause. It will mark the central bank’s sixth reduction since June last year, with its focus having shifted from tackling inflation to relieving pressure on the 20 nations that use the euro.With “growth stuttering”, a quarter-point cut at Thursday’s meeting “is a near certainty”, HSBC bank analysts said. A reduction by a quarter percentage point would bring the bank’s benchmark deposit rate to 2.50 percent. The rate reached a…