Govt employees can keep costly office laptops with themselves:Noida-Greater Noida metro line to pass through more stations

The central government has raised the price ceiling of laptops, tablets, or similar devices like smartphones for its eligible officers to ₹1.8 lakh plus taxes, and officials can retain them for personal use after four years. This means central government employees can keep electronics like costly laptops with themselves for personal use that they get from the office but only after four years of using them for official work. The device will be the property of the government for up to four years from the date of purchase. However, the officer who is given the device shall be personally responsible for the safety and security of data/information, as per the guidelines.
After completion of four years of usage, the officer can retain the issued device. The Finance Ministry’s Expenditure Department on November 10 issued revised guidelines on the purchase of Note Book /Laptop by ministries/departments of the central government. Who are eligible? Central government employees of Sections Officer rank and above will be eligible for the devices. “…it has been decided that laptop; tablet; notepad; ultra-book; notebook; devices of similar categories may be issued to eligible officers for discharge of official work,” it said. All government officers in Pay Level 12 and above (as per the 7th Central Pay Commission) in a ministry will be eligible for the devices.
Only 50 per cent of the officers in any department in pay levels 8 to 11 would be eligible for the devices. New rules not effective on mobile devices The new guidelines replace the July 2023 instructions on similar purchases of gadgets. The 2023 guidelines explicitly mentioned the purchase of mobile devices, which is not mentioned in the November 10, 2026, office memorandum. As per the new guidelines, the cost of the device shall not be more than ₹1.50 lakh + taxes. Employees can keep a device worth ₹ 1.80 lakh for personal use if it is 40% Made in India However, for devices with a Make-in-India (MII) component of more than 40%, the price ceiling has been set at ₹1.80 lakh plus taxes. Old rule allowed officials to keep electronics worth up to ₹1.30 lakh The price ceiling includes the cost of standard software. The 2023 guidelines had set the ceiling for such devices at ₹1 lakh and ₹1.3 lakh, respectively. Other approvals that Union Cabinet gave on Wednesday are as follows: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the extension of Aqua Line Metro Rail Corridor from Noida Sector-51 to Greater Noida Sector-04 of Noida Metro Rail Project with corridor for a length of 8.449 Km with 5 elevated stations. The government also approved the continuation of Stand-Up India Scheme for next 5 years to promote entrepreneurship among Women, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). The Union Cabinet also approved the continuation of the Credit Guarantee Fund for Micro Units (CGFMU) for another five years till March 31, 2031, with a corpus of ₹5,000 crore to support loans worth ₹12.6 lakh crore under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY). Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also approved the Nutrient-Based Subsidy (NBS) rates for Phosphatic and Potassic (PK) fertilisers for the Rabi 2026–27 season, with a tentative subsidy requirement of ₹62,370.02 crore, an increase of around 64% over the previous year. The government also prohibited the export of a specified category of battery waste and scrap, including lithium-ion battery black mass, with immediate effect. Additionally, the Finance Ministry has asked ministries and departments to make electric vehicles (EVs) their “default and preferred choice” for staff cars, and set a price cap of ₹20 lakh for the procurement of such vehicles.