NABARD Grade A Current Affairs — 19 September 2026

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the GST Council's October 7 meeting would focus on process reforms and the tax complexities arising from the digital economy. The Council, chaired by the FM and comprising state finance ministers, periodically revises GST rates, resolves compliance issues, and addresses emerging sectors. Digital economy taxation — covering e-commerce, platform services, and cross-border digital transactions — has grown increasingly complex and remains an evolving policy priority for the Council.

The GST Council is a constitutional body established under Article 279A of the Indian Constitution, inserted by the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016. It is the apex decision-making body for GST in India and operates on a cooperative federalism model. The Union Government holds one-third of the voting weight, while all states together hold two-thirds; decisions require a three-fourths majority.

Process reforms in GST typically cover simplification of return filing, e-invoicing thresholds, input tax credit (ITC) reconciliation, and anti-evasion measures. The Council has previously expanded e-invoicing applicability progressively — from businesses with turnover above ₹500 crore down to ₹5 crore.

Digital economy taxation is a globally contested area. In India, the GST framework taxes online services — both domestic platforms and foreign digital service providers supplying to Indian consumers (the OIDAR — Online Information and Database Access or Retrieval — services category). The equalisation levy, though separate from GST, also applies to digital advertising and e-commerce operators.

For exam purposes, candidates must understand that GST Council decisions are recommendatory — Parliament and state legislatures must legislate to implement them. Yet in practice, recommendations are almost always implemented, making Council meetings highly policy-significant. The intersection of digital taxation with GST is an emerging area that examiners are increasingly testing as India's digital economy expands.

India chaired the 25th Meeting of SCO Ministers Responsible for Economic and Foreign Economic Activity in New Delhi. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal led the meeting, which brought together economic ministers from SCO member states. India advocated for expanding trade and economic cooperation using local currencies, reducing dependence on the US dollar. The meeting also discussed enhancing connectivity, simplifying trade procedures, and deepening cooperation among SCO economies under China's 2025 chairmanship rotating to India.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance founded in 2001 in Shanghai. Its original members were China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017, and Iran became a member in 2023. The SCO now represents nearly half the world's population and about 30% of global GDP, making it one of the largest regional organisations by territory and population.

The SCO has three standing bodies: the SCO Secretariat (Beijing), the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure or RATS (Tashkent), and the SCO Business Council and Interbank Consortium for economic cooperation. The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body.

India's push for local currency trade within SCO is significant. It aligns with RBI's framework for invoicing, payment, and settlement of exports and imports in Indian Rupees (INR), introduced in July 2022. India has been advocating de-dollarisation in trade settlement across multiple multilateral forums including BRICS and now SCO. This is directly relevant to India's external payments architecture and reduces forex vulnerability.

The Economic Ministers' meeting is a sectoral ministerial mechanism of the SCO — one of several specialist ministerial tracks (defence, foreign affairs, culture, education, environment) that feed recommendations upward to the Heads of State Council. India held the SCO Presidency in 2023 and hosted the SCO Summit virtually that year, and now participates actively in the rotating ministerial framework.