• The Income Tax Department has launched (www.incometax.gov.in) New User Friendly Income Tax Portal 2.0 on 7th June 2021 with several new features.
• According to The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in a press release, the new portal will provide a Modern, Seamless experience to taxpayers.
• A mobile app will also be released subsequent to the initial launch of the portal.

The Reserve bank of India had tried to impose ban in 2018 by restricting banking facilities to crypto exchanges, which was later ruled out by the Supreme Court and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has also refused to ban crypto currency transactions. Since then Indians has invested billions of Rupees in crypto currencies like Bitcoin, Ripple, Matic, Dogecoin, Ethereum and many more. Although Income Tax Department has not yet provided any clarification or notification regarding tax implications on crypto currencies however it is advisable to pay tax on the same.

How to Pay Tax on Crypto Transactions?

Profits from crypto transactions will be taxed under Business Income head if such transactions are frequent in nature and volumes are high or the same will be taxed under Capital Gain Head if the same has been held as investments depending upon tenure of such investment for the purpose of determining Long Term or Short Term Gain. If crypto transactions are reported as business income, the implication of GST law also needs to be examined.

• The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has mooted the concept of ‘Model Insurance Village (MIV)’ to boost insurance penetration in rural areas.
• The idea is to offer comprehensive insurance protection to all the major insurable risks that villagers are exposed to and make available covers at affordable or subsidized cost.
• In order to make the premium affordable, financial support needs to be explored through NABARD, other institutions, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) funds, government support and support from reinsurance companies.
• It may be implemented in a minimum of 500 villages in different districts of the country in the first year and increased to 1,000 villages in the subsequent two years.
• Every general insurance company and reinsurance company accepting general insurance business and having offices in India needs to be involved for piloting the concept.
• According to the Economic Survey for 2020-21, India’s insurance penetration, which was at 2.71% in 2001, has steadily increased to 3.76% in 2019, but stayed much below the global average of 7.23%.

• NITI Aayog and Mastercard today released a report titled ‘Connected Commerce: Creating a Roadmap for a Digitally Inclusive Bharat’.
• The report identifies challenges in accelerating digital financial inclusion in India and provides recommendations for making digital services accessible to its 1.3 billion citizens.
• The report highlights key issues and opportunities on policy and capacity building across agriculture, small business (MSMEs), urban mobility and cyber security.

• National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has refused to ban cryptocurrency transactions.
• It has put the onus on banks whether to ban transactions of cryptocurrency trades or not.
• NPCI has told banks to take a decision based on the advice of their legal and compliance departments.
• NPCI’s decision is based on the Supreme Court’s March 2020 ruling which lifted the curb on cryptocurrency dealing legal in India