The June 2026 edition of DevMantra Times brings together the regulatory, tax, and market developments that shaped the month for businesses operating in India and across borders.
On cross-border taxation, the Supreme Court declined to reopen its 2021 Engineering Analysis ruling, reaffirming that payments for end-user software licences to foreign vendors are not "royalty" under the Income-tax Act or applicable tax treaties. For Indian businesses buying software from overseas suppliers, this removes withholding tax exposure and settles a question that had stayed open for years.
The banking sector posted record profits. Listed banks reported a consolidated net profit of over ₹4 lakh crore in FY26, with public sector banks alone contributing around ₹1.98 lakh crore. State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank together accounted for more than half of the sector's profit. Against this backdrop, the Finance Ministry is reviewing credit flow to agriculture and MSMEs, the RBI cancelled the registrations of 150 NBFCs and penalised City Union Bank and two other entities for compliance lapses, and Central Bank of India announced 150 new branches with close to 1,400 recruitments.
The innovation economy showed both momentum and caution. Karnataka advanced its "DeepTech Decade" vision with plans for shared space-tech testing facilities, and reopened its Elevate programme with grants up to ₹50 lakh, including dedicated tracks for women-led and SC/ST founders. IIT Madras opened a centre in Menlo Park to help Indian deep-tech startups reach Silicon Valley capital and partnerships, and Samsung launched a programme offering grants up to USD 50,000. Microsoft is reportedly weighing AI startup acquisitions beyond OpenAI. The funding picture stayed mixed: consumer-sector deal value fell even as deal volume rose, and Ola Consumer reported a 42% revenue drop with widening losses ahead of its planned IPO.
The judicial and regulatory coverage runs deep. On GST, courts quashed an ex-parte demand order and an electronic credit ledger block for breaching natural justice, restored a registration cancelled for non-filing, and set aside an ITC denial where the Circular 183 reconciliation was skipped. An AAR held that a construction site with sufficient permanence becomes a fixed establishment requiring separate registration, while corporate guarantees given without consideration were held not to be a supply.
Income-tax rulings favoured taxpayers on Section 54F (vacant land is not a residential house), the Section 50C tolerance band, short-deduction of TDS, per-transferee thresholds under Section 194-IA, and DTAA-restricted DDT rates. On corporate law, SEBI operationalised a fast-track route for AIF placement memorandums and proposed a buyback rationalisation, while the MCA enabled CSR spending through Zero Coupon Zero Principal instruments on the Social Stock Exchange.
The edition closes with the June 2026 tax compliance calendar, covering GSTR-1, GSTR-3B, ISD returns, and the first advance tax instalment for FY27.
