Foreign Direct Investment rules revised to liberalize sectoral entry routes, ownership limits, and compliance requirements.
Amendments revise FDI entry routes, ownership limits and compliance across sectors: joint audit requirement when an international-network auditor is specified; 100% automatic FDI for investing NBFCs, while CICs and other investing companies require Government approval and RBI CIC compliance; competent authority for applications from countries of concern assigned to DIPP for automatic-route security-clearance cases; civil aviation carrier foreign investment capped with effective control retained by Indian nationals; real-estate broking classified as non-real-estate business allowing 100% automatic FDI; 100% automatic FDI in single brand retail with brand, sourcing and transitional global-sourcing conditions; removal of certain power exchange restrictions; expanded medical device definition; and rules for equity issuance against imports and pre operative expenses with specified documentation and reporting.

Container scanning: non-intrusive inspection required and supervised physical examination for suspicious AFTWZ-bound containers.
Pilot project requires RMCC-selected AFTWZ bound containers to be scanned at designated mobile or fixed scanners; the EIR will record selection and scanner type and must accompany containers. AFTWZ/Carrier must bring selected containers for scanning and submit EIRs with CSD endorsements to the DC/AC. CSD will endorse scanning outcomes on the EIR and email images of suspicious containers to AFTWZ, which must conduct supervised full physical examination and return results to CSD and the system. Unscanned containers due to operational issues will be diverted for supervised examination with EIR endorsement.

Attendance directive for Group A officers requires presence at Customs Day investiture ceremony to ensure official participation.
A departmental circular issues an attendance directive requiring all Group A officers posted in the Board to attend the Customs Day and Investiture Ceremony, communicated as an internal administrative instruction from the Department of Revenue, Central Board of Excise & Customs and issued with Board approval.

Export Promotion Circles established to centralize customs functions, shifting specified duties from Excise/GST to local customs.
Export Promotion Circles are constituted within Ahmedabad customs to undertake customs functions hitherto performed by Excise/GST formations - including drawback administration, concessional import processing, issuance of end use and installation certificates, EOU/EHTP/STP related customs work, and sealing of containerized cargo - effective immediately; Annexure A lists controlling offices, EPC addresses and territorial jurisdictions for implementation, and stakeholders are invited to report difficulties to the department.

Verification of State-run lottery tickets required; designated Assistant Commissioners must inspect and countersign statements immediately.
Designated Assistant Commissioners must visit the specified printing presses to physically verify printed lottery tickets against invoices and countersign statements prepared by State Lottery officials; for unsold tickets after each draw, the Assistant Commissioners of the named Special Circles and specified Assistant Commissioners of State Tax must inspect unsold tickets at district Lottery Department offices and countersign the prepared statements, with these measures effective immediately.

Filing of returns under GST: calendar set, edit facility allowed pre-offset, reduced late fees, reconciliation deferred.
Filing of returns under GST requires monthly FORM GSTR-3B by all registered persons and FORM GSTR-1 on monthly or quarterly basis depending on self-assessed aggregate turnover; quarterly filing is available up to Rs.1.5 crore turnover but monthly filing may be elected for the year. Late fees for July-September were waived; reduced daily late fees apply from October. Errors in FORM GSTR-3B may be corrected using the edit facility prior to offsetting; otherwise adjustments must be made in subsequent returns, amendments to FORM GSTR-1, refunds claimed where necessary, or payments/reversals made with interest. System reconciliation with GSTR-1/2 is deferred pending notification.

Independent oversight committee for product design mandates supervision of new and modified commodity contracts and reporting to exchange management.
Mandates an Independent Oversight Committee for Product Design to oversee new and modified commodity products and the ongoing review of approved contracts; to examine SEBI inspection observations on product design; and to assess adequacy of resources devoted to product design. Heads of departments handling these matters must report to the committee and the Managing Director, and may appeal exchange action to the committee within a period set by the governing board. Exchanges must amend bye-laws, inform members and publish the provisions, effective within thirty days.

Minimum Export Price applied to onion exports, permitted only on Letter of Credit, effective immediately until notified otherwise.
Export of onions under the specified ITC (HS) entries is permitted only on Letter of Credit (LC) and is subject to a Minimum Export Price (MEP) of US$ 700 F.O.B. per metric ton, effective immediately and valid until 20.02.2018; treating this public notice as a standing order for officers and staff and providing contact points for difficulties.

GST practitioner enrolment now uses Karnataka's online backend with staged document and field verification, then DSC approval.
Karnataka has implemented a Model-1 online back-end for enrolment of Goods and Services Tax Practitioners whereby applicants file FORM GST PCT-01 on the common portal, applications are received via API to the state NIC portal, and the Additional Commissioner (Revision & Recovery) acts as the Authorised Officer to issue enrolment certificates (FORM GST PCT-02). The workflow mandates JCCT-DGSTO document verification, optional ACCT-LGSTO/CTO-SGSTO field verification of professional address, consolidated recommendations to the Authorised Officer, DSC-based online approval or rejection, and system notifications with login credentials upon approval.

Online filing requirement mandates uploading offer documents and scheme/takeover/buyback filings to the SEBI intermediary portal.
Mandatory online filing requires draft offer documents, draft letters of offer, draft schemes of arrangement and filings for takeovers and buy backs to be uploaded to the SEBI Intermediary Portal; merchant bankers and recognized stock exchanges must simultaneously file physical and online copies during the transition and thereafter migrate to online only submissions, with portal access, user manual and helpline provided.

Electronic sealing requirement for container self sealing: mandatory for specified exporters, voluntary where readers exist.
Implementation of electronic sealing for container self sealing moves from voluntary adoption to phased mandatory use where Customs reader infrastructure is available. Entitled exporters with RFID e seals may opt in immediately; earlier mandatory compliance applies to exporters previously permitted self sealing, accredited economic operators, and those using supervised stuffing at specified locations. Exporters using officer supervision may continue until e sealing becomes mandatory at their port or ICD. Trade bodies are asked to inform members and consult the full circulars for operational details.

Manual GST refund filing for inverted duty, deemed exports and cash ledger balances permitted with procedural safeguards.
Manual processing of refund claims is authorised for inverted duty structure, deemed exports and excess electronic cash ledger balances while the portal refund module is unavailable. Claims must be filed in FORM GST RFD-01A (monthly, or quarterly for registrants filing GSTR-1 quarterly), only after furnishing the corresponding GSTR-1 details and filing GSTR-3B for the preceding period. Provisional refunds may be sanctioned on submission of a manual undertaking to repay any incorrectly sanctioned amount with interest. Specific statements of RFD-01A apply and refund orders must be communicated to the counterpart authority within seven working days.

Provisional Assessment special drive to finalize pending cases; submit required documents to task force and valuation branch
A special drive directs prompt finalization of provisional assessment of export Bills of Entry pending in DEEC (Group-7D), requiring importers, exporters and customs brokers to submit outstanding documents (including SVB orders and pending approvals) to the AC/CRC-II Section for entry in the Customs EDI system. A Special Task Force at DEEC is designated to receive submissions for non-SVB cases, monthly joint meetings with SVB will address SVB-related matters, and an awareness program and escalation channel to senior commissionerate officers are provided to facilitate disposal.

Customs jurisdiction redefined for Kerala: ports, airports and preventive divisions reassigned under preventive commissioner control.
Corrigendum reallocates customs jurisdiction within the Thiruvananthapuram zone by assigning specified airports, minor ports (including proposed Vizhinjam), ICDs and air cargo complexes to the administrative control of the Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), Cochin. It amends operational functions such as Self Sealing/Factory Stuffing, acceptance of undertakings/bonds and issuance of Procurement Certificates, and redefines the territorial composition and GST-range based boundaries of multiple Customs Preventive Divisions and CPUs, including insertion of new units and detailed coastal and marine jurisdiction delineations.

SION amendment updates input description to Styrene Monomer for specified entries while preserving input quantities.
Amendment to Standard Input Output Norms (SION) revises the description of the input at Sl. No. 2 in SION entries A1495, A1496 and A1497 to read "Styrene/Styrene Monomer" without any change in the prescribed quantities, issued under Paragraph 1.03 of the Foreign Trade Policy as a public regulatory update.

Out of scope non-food HS codes: revised list issued and items need not be referred to the food safety regulator for clearance.
Designation of specified HS codes for non-food items as out of scope of the food safety regulator is notified, with a revised Annexure listing affected HS codes and product descriptions; FSSAI has advised that those items should not be referred to it for clearance and the directions are to be implemented as a standing order for customs officers and staff.

Customs Punch Seal allowed for ISO tank container movements to warehouses subject to photographic verification and email reporting.
Customs permit use of Customs Punch Seal for ISO tank containers that cannot accept standard one-time-locks when moved from Customs stations to bonded warehouses. Warehouse custodians must photograph the punch seal and container number with a date-time stamp to verify integrity and email the image to the Bond Section for verification and record-keeping. The practice is temporary and will be replaced when suitable bottle seals for ISO tanks become available; operational issues must be reported to the designated Deputy/Assistant Commissioners.

Export container self-sealing allows approved exporters to use RFID e-seals after prescribed approval and documentation.
Customs Commissionerate, Noida assumes customs functions transferred from Central Excise/GST, establishing ten Export Promotion Circles. A self-sealing regime allows exporters, subject to GST registration and prescribed documentation, to obtain approval for stuffing and affixing tamper-evident RFID electronic seals at approved premises. Jurisdictional officers inspect premises and recommend to the Principal Commissioner, who grants permissions valid across applied stations; sealed containers remain subject to risk-based examination and tampering triggers mandatory inspection and alternative sealing procedures.

Strategic investor participation in InvITs and REITs requires binding subscription agreements, escrowed payment, disclosure and temporary lock-in.
Strategic investors may subscribe to InvIT and REIT public issues for not less than 5% and not more than 25% of the offer, under a binding unit subscription agreement specifying subscription price which must be deposited in a special escrow account before opening the public issue. The strategic investor price shall not be less than the public issue price; if the public price is higher the investor must pay the difference within two working days, while no refund is provided if the public price is lower and allotment occurs at the agreed subscription price. The unit subscription agreement is disclosable in the offer document and units allotted to strategic investors are locked-in for 180 days from listing.

Customs Area declaration approving custodian and customs cargo service provider status for a Container Freight Station under customs supervision.
The premises of M/s. Prompt Terminals (P) Ltd., Tuticorin CFS at Survey No. 24/3 are declared a Customs Area for unloading, de-stuffing and Customs examination of FCL imports and for Customs examination, stuffing/loading and sealing of export cargo under Customs supervision. M/s. Prompt Terminals is approved as Custodian under Section 45(1) and as Customs Cargo Service Provider under Regulation 10 HCCAR 2009 to receive, store, deliver, dispatch and handle imported and export goods in the declared area, subject to specified procedural circulars and notices.