FEMA regulatory rationalisation withdraws obsolete directions on external commercial borrowings, non-resident bond investments and money transfer sub-agents.
FEMA regulatory rationalisation entails withdrawal of circulars that have ceased to operate because of subsequent amendments, redundancy, overlap, or supersession by later directions. The withdrawn circulars concern External Commercial Borrowings, overseas rupee-denominated bonds, non-resident investments in tax-free non-convertible bonds, and the Money Transfer Service Scheme. Authorised persons must bring these changes to the attention of their concerned constituents, without affecting permissions or approvals required under other laws.

Unutilized Standard Input Output Norms face suspension after stakeholder consultation under Advance Authorisation and Duty-Free Import Authorisation schemes.
DGFT proposes suspension of 544 Standard Input Output Norms identified as unutilized under the Advance Authorisation and Duty-Free Import Authorisation schemes during the preceding three financial years. Stakeholders may submit comments, supporting material, reasons for retention, and details of actual or proposed utilization within 15 days. After considering timely submissions, the identified norms may be suspended, while delayed comments may not be considered.

Open API integration for Certificates of Origin enables secure electronic filing, dynamic validation, digital signatures, and certificate verification.
Open API integration enables eligible exporters to connect their software systems with the Certificate of Origin platform for electronic application submission, issuance, and verification. Access requires onboarding credentials, IP whitelisting, a configured document signer, authenticated token generation, and compliance with prescribed technical specifications. The CoO File API supports submission of applicant, certificate, product, shipment, supporting-document, and declaration data, with dynamic validation based on the selected trade agreement. Digital signatures protect data integrity, sender authentication, and non-repudiation, while ledger records track transaction status and the verification API confirms certificate validity.

Section 49 storage facilitates delayed air-cargo clearance, with timely importer intimation, expedited processing, and legally admissible waiver certification.
Imported air cargo delayed by Customs or statutory processes may be considered for storage under Section 49 of the Customs Act, 1962. Officers should promptly notify importers or authorised Customs Brokers of this facility, while Custodians must issue reminders where cargo remains uncleared and maintain communication records. Complete storage applications should ordinarily be processed within three working days, subject to necessary consultation and legal, operational, revenue, security and regulatory considerations. Detention or demurrage waiver certificates may be issued only where legally admissible, after verification, and must specify the relevant waiver period and process details.

Accredited Investor mandate compliance deadline for existing Angel Funds is extended, while non-Accredited Investor limits and contribution restrictions continue.
The deadline for Angel Funds registered on or before September 10, 2025 to implement the Accredited Investor mandate is extended to March 31, 2027. Until that date, these funds may not offer investment opportunities to more than 200 non-Accredited Investors. From March 31, 2027, they may not accept contributions from non-Accredited Investors for investment in an investee company. Existing investors may continue to hold investments already made under the applicable private placement memorandum or fund documents.

Government securities-only FPI compliance removes investor group disclosure requirement across fully accessible and general investment routes.
Foreign Portfolio Investors investing only in Government Securities are exempt from furnishing investor group details. The exemption extends beyond investments under the Fully Accessible Route to all FPIs whose investments are limited to Government Securities. Withdrawal of the concentration-limit requirement for investments through the General Route makes investor-group identification no longer relevant. Depositories, custodians and Designated Depository Participants must update their systems, and the revised framework takes effect immediately.

Import container scanning exclusions apply to empty and international transshipment containers, subject to intelligence-based examination.
Import container scanning requirements exclude empty containers manifested by shipping lines at import and international transshipment containers carrying cargo not intended for clearance in India. Examination, including scanning, may still occur on specific intelligence from revenue intelligence or field formations. These excluded categories are not to be scanned even if selected through the National Committee for Targeting Cargo, subject to applicable central indirect-tax and customs instructions. Stakeholders must ensure compliance.

Partial customs-area de-notification confines custodian and cargo service provider authorisations to the retained Container Freight Station area.
Partial de-notification reduces the Customs-notified premises of the Container Freight Station from 94,325 square metres to 82,800 square metres, excluding 11,525 square metres from Customs control. The retained area continues as the Customs Area under a revised layout plan identifying the retained and excluded portions. The operator's appointment as Custodian and approval as Customs Cargo Service Provider are confined to the retained Customs Area, while the validity and other terms of the existing appointment and approval remain unchanged.

National Assessment Centre Portal centralises customs assessment information to promote consistent decisions, informed compliance, transparency and trade facilitation.
National Assessment Centre (NAC) Portal creates a common digital repository for customs assessment information, including NAC decisions, legal precedents, CAAR rulings, advisories, audit observations, and material on classification, valuation and related matters. The portal supports transparent access, consistent assessment practices, informed compliance and trade facilitation. Each NAC has role-based access to upload, update and manage information within its allocated functional domain and must regularly update the repository. Commodity issues raised for guidance or assessment uniformity before CCFC or PTFC require priority updating.

Pre-clearance verification for regulated health imports requires licences, matching records, labelling, shelf-life compliance, and referral where discrepancies arise.
Customs officers must verify prescribed licences, permissions, registration records, invoices, packing lists, origin certificates, labels, storage licences, quality certificates and importer undertakings before granting out-of-charge for regulated cosmetics, drugs and medical devices. Documents must correspond with the imported product, manufacturer, licence holder, pack size and authorised quantity. Cosmetics, drugs and devices are subject to category-specific labelling and shelf-life requirements. Imports for personal use, testing, clinical investigation, small quantities and medical-device manufacture require the applicable permissions or manufacturing licences. Discrepancies or doubts require referral to the concerned CDSCO port office.

EMI scheme documentation rationalisation reduces application disclosures while retaining financial certification, eligibility declarations, and compliance safeguards.
The EMI Scheme application process reduces data disclosures and mandatory uploads while retaining core eligibility, financial and compliance checks. Applicants must provide identity and manufacturer or job-work particulars, disclose GST collection liabilities, financial solvency, insolvency status, net worth, net current assets, prosecutions and prior EMI applications. Mandatory uploads are limited to the applicable UDYAM certificate, a UDIN-bearing Chartered Accountant certificate and authorised-signatory authorisation. The certificate must explain negative net worth or net current assets. Applicants remain responsible for accurate declarations, tax-deposit undertakings and notification of changes affecting eligibility.

One-time conversion of eligible raw sugar import authorisations to tariff quota receives an extended application deadline.
Eligible holders of Advance Authorisations under SION E-52 may apply for one-time conversion to tariff rate quota treatment for Raw Sugar imports during the extended window from 3 September 2026 through 7 September 2026, inclusive. The final filing date is 7 September 2026. Existing conditions governing such conversion continue to apply, and provisions may be amended, modified, relaxed, or withdrawn subject to the Foreign Trade Policy and applicable law.

Non-resident bank Rupee accounts: annual branch-list and temporary-overdraft reporting obligations are discontinued for authorised dealer banks.
Reporting requirements for Authorised Dealer Category-I banks concerning accounts of non-resident banks are dispensed with immediate effect. The discontinued obligations include annual submission of updated lists of offices and branches maintaining Rupee accounts of non-resident banks and reporting of temporary overdrawals by overseas branches or correspondents exceeding permissible limits where unadjusted beyond five days. The directions operate without affecting permissions or approvals required under other applicable law.

Sea cargo manifest compliance begins through phased electronic message filing, with stakeholder onboarding and no penalties during transition.
Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations, 2018 become operational through phased implementation of prescribed electronic messages in the Customs Automated System across ports. Stakeholders are expected to file applicable messages for cargo processing and clearance. SEZ units may onboard during the transition period, while field formations must conduct outreach, issue public notices, and coordinate resolution of system and policy issues. No penal action is to be taken during the implementation phase.

Tariff rate quota allocation for raw sugar uses daily batches, timestamping, and pro-rata distribution upon exhaustion.
Balance raw sugar imports under the Tariff Rate Quota scheme are opened for fresh allocation to eligible millers and refiners through the DGFT online system. Applications are processed in daily batches according to the portal time stamp, subject to scrutiny, eligibility and remaining quota. Where a daily batch exceeds the available balance, allocation is made pro rata among that batch's applicants according to their applied quantities. Applications submitted after complete quota exhaustion are not considered.

Automated Free Sale and Commerce Certificates enable rule-based online issuance, while verification cases remain subject to manual review.
Automated issuance of Free Sale and Commerce Certificates is enabled on the DGFT portal for eligible exporters of items outside the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940. Qualifying online applications may be processed through a rule-based, system-driven workflow using a risk-based management approach. Applications requiring verification or not meeting automated processing parameters continue to be routed for manual processing by the concerned Regional Authority. Auto-approved applications may also be selected for subsequent review under risk-management parameters.

Brand rate drawback applications require risk-based verification, prescribed certifications, and final approval for determining the drawback rate.
Brand Rate of Drawback applications must be scrutinised by the Brand Rate Fixation Cell, supported by verification where required, and submitted with a clear recommendation for final rate determination. Original duty-paid documents are generally not required for post-facto endorsement, subject to risk-based random cross-verification. Sanction requires timely filing, completed exports, positive value addition, prescribed professional certification, shipping-bill declaration of the drawback code, compliance with applicable input-output and market-value conditions, and a verified drawback calculation worksheet.

Companies Compliance Facilitation Scheme extension permits companies additional time to complete pending statutory filings while existing conditions remain unchanged.
The Companies Compliance Facilitation Scheme, 2026 remains available until 15 September 2026, extending the period for companies to complete pending statutory filings. The further extension responds to stakeholder representations, while all other terms and conditions governing the Scheme continue without modification.

Bank Guarantee Repository workflows enable digital status tracking, expiry alerts, replacement linkage and electronically signed guarantee communications.
Enhanced functionality in the Bank Guarantee Repository Module enables digital submission, monitoring and processing of bank guarantees. The module distinguishes fresh and replacement guarantees, sends automated expiry alerts, and permits digitally signed renewal, encashment and return communications. Structured status tracking covers pending acceptance, acceptance, replacement, EODC return and renewal or encashment notices. Bank guarantees in the Bills Repository remain pending acceptance until accepted by the Regional Authority, but automatically become accepted when a linked AA/EPCG invalidation file is approved.

ETF trading norms receive a deferred implementation date, while existing requirements and market infrastructure compliance duties remain unchanged.
Implementation of norms governing base price, price bands, pre-open session call auctions and close-out procedures for Exchange Traded Funds is deferred to September 7, 2026 to facilitate smooth implementation. All other requirements remain unchanged. Market infrastructure institutions must establish necessary systems, amend relevant bye-laws, rules and regulations where required, and disseminate the requirements to market participants, including investors.