India Budget 2018 | Less Than 10 Days To Go: A Forecast

As the Modi Government prepares to present its last complete budget before the 2019 general elections, we reflect on the current fiscal year and evaluate the key target areas for the financial and tax reform proposals of 'Budget 2018'.

This year has witnessed sweeping legislative reform – introduction of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) to facilitate the corporate insolvency resolution process, passing of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 to regulate the real estate sector, and introduction of GST as single national tax which streamlines the indirect tax regime in India. Within the realm of direct taxes, the year witnessed the introduction of the General Anti-Avoidance Rules, thin capitalisation norms, secondary adjustments in India's extant transfer pricing regime, the issuance of the final guidelines on 'POEM' (i.e. place of effective management) as a test of corporate residency, the widening of fair valuation basis taxation and