Weekly Finance & Tax News Roundup: September 21–26, 2026

The week of 21–26 September 2026 was less about new tax notifications and more about regulators and markets recalibrating. The GST Council locked in the agenda for its first meeting in over a year, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) pushed through one of its biggest single-day rule overhauls in recent memory, Indian equities logged a seventh consecutive losing week as crude oil and global bond yields surged, and Indian startups had their busiest funding week of the month. Here is what businesses, taxpayers and finance professionals need to know.

Taxation & GST

The GST Council will meet on 7 October 2026, its first meeting in more than a year, and according to a government source cited in reports this week, "no rate proposal [is] likely and the entire deliberation will be on process." Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has separately said the Council is not looking at a "3.0" version of GST reform just yet, and is instead focused on tightening the "2.0" framework already in place, while inviting industry and tax professionals to submit evidence-based representations on anomalies in the law rather than blanket requests for rate cuts.

• Input tax credit protection: proposals to shield genuine buyers from losing credit when a supplier collects GST but fails to remit it to the government.

• Simplified registration: standardised documentation for businesses with monthly input tax credit above ₹2.5 lakh; roughly 65% of new registrations already use a simplified route, and the Council may extend this further.

• UPI merchant costs: a possible review of the 18% GST charged on the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), a flashpoint after recent changes to UPI charges.

• Compensation cess: how to handle roughly ₹2,500 crore of accumulated compensation cess credit, a matter currently before the Supreme Court.

• ITC expansion: easing restrictions on input tax credit for motor vehicles, food and beverages, health services and select property-related expenses.

None of this changes GST law yet, but the direction of travel matters for any business currently structuring GST registrations, evaluating ITC positions, or affected by supplier non-compliance. We will cover the Council's actual decisions in detail once the meeting concludes on 7 October.

Markets & Regulation: SEBI's September Overhaul

On 24 September 2026, SEBI's board approved a sweeping set of reforms, one of its biggest single-meeting overhauls in years, touching portfolio management, enforcement, advertising and foreign investment rules. Here are the changes most relevant to businesses and investors:

• Portfolio Management Services (PMS) overhaul: portfolio managers can now invest client money in IPOs, primary debt issuances and foreign securities (equities, debt, REITs, ETFs and government debt, subject to RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme rules); a new PRIM route carries a ₹25 lakh minimum ticket size and a 1% fee cap.

• Lighter compliance load: PMS regulations have been cut from 70 pages to 33, with dealing-room requirements relaxed for the roughly 48% of PMS providers managing under ₹100 crore in assets.

• Faster, cheaper settlements: a formula-based settlement framework ties penalty amounts to prescribed minimums, with a fast-track route for cases involving up to ₹10 lakh.

• A single advertising code: celebrity endorsements are now permitted for brand-level promotions by brokers, advisers, mutual funds and other regulated intermediaries, subject to safeguards and post-facto reporting.

• Wider foreign investor access: FPIs can now trade non-agricultural index derivatives and non-cash-settled commodity derivatives.

• Gold and bullion custody: net worth requirements for Vault Managers rise from ₹50 crore to ₹75 crore, with their scope widened beyond Electronic Gold Receipts.

If your business uses portfolio management services, raises capital through AIFs, or advertises regulated financial products, several of these changes will roll out through subsequent SEBI circulars, worth watching closely over the coming weeks.

RBI, Rupee & the Markets This Week

It was a rough week for Indian equities. The Nifty 50 closed at 23,140.50 on Friday, 26 September, down about 0.9% for the week, marking a seventh consecutive weekly decline, a losing streak last seen during the 2020 Covid crash. The main culprit was crude oil: Brent crude touched $105–106 a barrel intraday, up over 62% for the year and the best-performing major asset of 2026, driven largely by the US-Iran conflict. Rising US Treasury yields added to the pressure, with the 30-year yield hitting 5.48%, its highest since 2004, pulling the Nifty's earnings yield below both US benchmark yields for the first time in this cycle. Foreign institutional investors have withdrawn a net $40 billion from Indian markets over the past two years, though analysts expect flows to stay "flat to modestly positive" from here.

The rupee felt the same pressure, settling at 95.96 to the dollar on 24 September, its weakest level in a week, with 96 emerging as a closely watched psychological level. State-run banks were seen selling dollars, likely on the Reserve Bank of India's behalf, while the RBI also made payments in the forward market to manage volatility; forward premiums rose in response. Government bond yields moved higher too, with the 10-year benchmark touching 7.11%, its highest since 21 May. For businesses, this combination, a weaker rupee, costlier borrowing and volatile equities, is worth factoring into import costs, hedging decisions and short-term financing plans over the coming weeks.

Business & Startups: A Blockbuster Funding Week

Indian startups had their strongest funding week of the month between 21 and 25 September, raising a combined $203.4 million across 21 deals, more than triple the previous week's $58.9 million across 14 deals. Electric-vehicle maker Ultraviolette Automotive led with an $85 million Series E round, followed by AI company Ema, which raised $77 million in a Series B round. Social networking startup Rivet closed a $10.5 million seed round. AI-focused startups collectively raised $89.3 million across five deals, while early-stage (seed) activity also stayed strong, with $20.3 million raised across five deals. Investors Peercheque and Sauce.VC were each involved in two deals during the week.

Conclusion

Taken together, this week's developments point in two directions at once: regulators are actively simplifying and modernising the rules, with GST process reforms on the table and SEBI's PMS and settlement overhaul now in force, while markets are working through real near-term stress from oil prices, global bond yields and a softer rupee. Businesses that stay on top of both, the compliance changes and the market conditions, will be better placed heading into the festive-season quarter.

If any of this week's developments, the coming GST Council changes, SEBI's new PMS or advertising rules, or currency and financing conditions, affect your business, the team at CA Samir K. Mehta & Associates can help you understand what applies to you and plan accordingly. Contact us to discuss your specific situation.

This article is a general news summary for informational purposes and does not constitute personalised tax, legal or financial advice. Please consult a qualified professional for advice specific to your circumstances.