Foreign portfolio investment liberalisation expands equity investment access for resident outside India investors through repatriable INR accounts and aligned compliance.
Foreign portfolio investment under Schedule III of the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 is liberalised to permit investment in equity instruments of a listed Indian company on a recognised stock exchange in India by all individual persons resident outside India, with enhanced investment limits. Authorised Dealer Category-I banks may open a repatriable INR account for such investors, and reporting and monitoring are to follow the same manner as NRI and OCI investments.

Compulsory registration for standalone hard disk drives is amended, while USB external drives remain under existing notified provisions.
Amends the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirements for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2021 by substituting the entry at Serial No. 50 with Standalone Hard Disk Drives. USB Type External Hard Disk Drives continue under the existing notified provisions, while all other standalone HDDs are brought under the Order from 5th November.

Exemption for Highly Specialized Equipment under compulsory registration rules applies to limited-volume imports and manufacturing.
Highly Specialized Equipment (HSE) is exempted from the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirements for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2021 where a specific exemption is issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the equipment is manufactured or imported in less than 100 units per model per year. The exemption covers equipment powered by three-phase supply, single-phase supply above 16 Ampere, equipment exceeding specified dimensions, and equipment weighing more than 80 Kg. The amendment takes effect from 15 June 2026.

Tribunal help desk established for appeal filing, procedural guidance, and general assistance at the Chennai Bench.
Establishment and operationalisation of a Help Desk at the GSTAT, Chennai Bench to provide assistance to stakeholders in filing appeals, procedural requirements, case-related queries and general guidance concerning the functioning of the Tribunal. The Help Desk will function from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM on all working days and is temporarily located at the GSTAT, Chennai Bench, Chennai. The designated officials are Smt. A. S. Charmi Sheela and Shri. Subhasish Giri.

Container scanning hours extended to improve cargo clearance and preserve existing customs procedures for specified container movements.
Operational hours of the Container Scanning Facility at Syama Prasad Mookherjee Port, Kolkata, are extended with immediate effect by revising the working window for both the Drive Through Container Scanner and the Mobile X-ray Container Scanner from 10:00 hrs to 18:00 hrs to 10:00 hrs to 22:00 hrs on all working days. The existing procedures for DPD containers, containers destined for ICDs, and Nepal/Bhutan-bound CTD containers remain unchanged and continue under the earlier public notices governing scanner operations and related customs handling.

GST appellate tribunal functioning notice sets jurisdiction, filing procedure, defect scrutiny, and compliance requirements for stakeholders.
The Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai Bench, has commenced functioning from its temporary premises at Bandra Kurla Complex, and the notice informs stakeholders of the formal start of its judicial operations. The Mumbai State Bench, including the Panaji Circuit Bench, exercises jurisdiction over Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban Districts in Maharashtra and all districts in Goa, and hears appeals under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the corresponding State and Union Territory GST Acts within those jurisdictions. All appeals, applications, and proceedings relating to the notified jurisdictions are to be instituted before the Mumbai Bench in accordance with the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 2025.

Merchant banker compliance timelines extended for separate business units, net worth requirements, liquid net worth, and categorisation intimation.
The Circular extends the compliance timelines for Merchant Bankers under the January 02, 2026 framework. It postpones the transfer of activities to Separate Business Units and compliance with Clause 11.2.10 to December 31, 2026, and shifts the staged net worth and liquid net worth requirements, together with the related categorisation intimation, to March 31, 2027 and March 31, 2028, while leaving all other provisions unchanged.

Allowed for Shipment Request and stuffing cancellation messages are made live for transshipment under SCMTR compliance.
Pan India implementation of the ASR (Allowed for Shipment Request) message and the SFCN (Stuffing Cancellation) message under SCMTR, 2018 is brought into effect from 25.05.2026. The ASR message is made live for shipment readiness in transshipment operations, to be filed by the Authorized Transhipper after the Custodian files the SF message. The SFCN message is introduced to enable custodians to reset an already filed SF message.

Allowed for Shipment Request messaging now advances transhipment Shipping Bills after stuffing, while cancellation enables custodians to reset stuffing records.
Allowed for Shipment Request and Stuffing Cancellation messages under the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations, 2018 are operational pan-India from 25 May 2026. After a custodian files the container-wise Stuffing message, an Authorized Transhipper must file the Shipping Bill-wise ASR message to indicate cargo readiness for transhipment; successful filing moves the Shipping Bill to the next queue. The SFCN message permits custodians to reset a submitted Stuffing message. Subsequent export-leg messages depend on SF and ASR operationalisation.

GSTAT procedure rules amendments reshape appeal filing, verification, defect scrutiny, cause lists, and rectification fee provisions.
The Committee considered proposed amendments to the GSTAT (Procedure) Rules, 2025 covering certified copies, appeal filing, documentation, verification, translation, scrutiny of defects, interlocutory applications, cross-objections, replies, rejoinders, cause lists, rectification, and fee provisions. It recommended revised filing and verification requirements, portal-based compliance, relaxation of translation rules, expanded scrutiny and rectification timelines, weekly cause lists, and a no-fee proviso for rectification applications, while recording that no amendment was required to the rectification limitation rule and that fee prescriptions under the CGST Rules were outside its jurisdiction.

Customs area approval for BMCTPL access road extends custodian and cargo service provider responsibilities under customs law.
Approval is granted for an access road area admeasuring 118,089.89 sq. mtrs. as a place for unloading imported goods and loading export goods. The area is specified by boundary vertices and forms part of the BMCTPL notified customs area. M/s Bharat Mumbai Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd. is appointed custodian of imported goods and export cargo in the area, and M/s BMCT Pvt. Ltd. is appointed as a Customs Cargo Service Provider subject to compliance with the Customs Act, 1962 and the Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009.

System-based e-scheduling of cargo examination streamlines import cargo handling with transparent, rule-based electronic coordination.
System-based e-scheduling of cargo examination through ICEGATE 2.0 enables importers, IEC holders and authorised Customs Brokers to electronically schedule, view and reschedule examination of registered imported goods, with automated notifications to stakeholders and system-based allocation of examination slots. Customs Brokers and importers must ensure correct Bill of Entry and Custodian/CFS details, custodians must place goods as per the generated schedule, and Customs officers must map examiners, conduct examination through the assigned officer and manage reassignment or rescheduling where necessary.

Out of Charge-based DPD conversion allowed without separate Customs permission, subject to fully facilitated Bills of Entry.
Importers of fully facilitated Bills of Entry granted Out of Charge by the RMS Facilitation Centre may convert containers from DPD-CFS to DPD-DPD without separate Customs permission. Shipping lines and terminals may act on the importer's request once OOC is generated, subject to the condition that the Bills of Entry are fully facilitated and any scanning has not raised suspicion.

Out of Charge cancellation procedure requires importer request, CFS confirmation, and approval where goods are unavailable.
Procedure is prescribed for cancellation of Out of Charge (OOC) for imported goods. An importer or customs broker must submit a request letter or email stating the grounds for cancellation to the DC/AC (Import Assessment) or DE, with a copy to the CFS where the goods are lying. The CFS must confirm that the goods are physically available in the CFS. The AC/DC then examines the request, cancels the OOC, and communicates the cancellation to the importer and the CFS.

Central Public Information Officer designations are revised, with appeals against information officers routed to the designated appellate officer.
Assistant Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and the Chief Accounts Officer are designated as Central Public Information Officers for their respective charges following a partial modification of an earlier public notice. A person aggrieved by a Central Public Information Officer may prefer an appeal to the Joint Commissioner of Customs (Airport and Administration) under the Right to Information Act, 2005. Implementation-related difficulties may be brought to the notice of the issuing office.

Mandatory re-assessment for Customs refund claims is required before filing through the ICEGATE refund module.
Prior re-assessment of the Bill of Entry is a mandatory pre-condition for refund of excess Customs duty paid, wherever re-assessment is required. Refund claims must be filed through the integrated "Re-assessment cum Refund" module on ICEGATE 2.0, which provides for electronic submission of the reassessment request, generation of a pre-filled refund application after reassessment, and further processing by the Centralized Refund Cell. Applications filed without prior re-assessment are treated as incomplete and may attract a deficiency memo.

Foreign exchange swap positions: banks may exclude eligible swap exposures while meeting NOP-INR compliance requirements.
Authorised Dealer Category-I banks may exclude swap positions arising from FCNR (B) deposits, external commercial borrowings and overseas foreign currency borrowings raised under the specified swap-facility circulars, while complying with the applicable NOP-INR requirements under the earlier circular. The direction forms part of the foreign exchange regulatory framework for such swap transactions and is subject to any permissions or approvals required under other laws.

Foreign exchange reporting shifts to CIMS portal as banks must file monthly statements and NIL reports electronically.
Authorised Dealer Category-I banks must upload specified foreign exchange reports on the Centralized Information Management System (CIMS) portal instead of submitting them manually. The consolidated monthly statement of branches, liaison offices and project offices opened and closed is to be filed on CIMS with return code R343 from the month ending June 2026, including a NIL report where no data is available. The monthly statement on NRO account remittances is also shifted to CIMS with return code R006, and the reporting framework under FEMA is being updated.

Foreign Portfolio Investor access to government securities broadened through eased limits and expanded fully accessible route coverage.
Foreign Portfolio Investors are given greater flexibility for Government securities investments under the General Route by withdrawing the short-term investment limit, security-wise limit and concentration limit. The framework merges the "general" and "long-term" sub-categories into single limits for Central Government Securities and State Government Securities, and expands the Fully Accessible Route by adding new issuances of specified tenors of Government Securities and Sovereign Green Bonds, together with identified existing securities. Related Master Direction provisions are amended accordingly, with revised monitoring by the Clearing Corporation of India Ltd. and immediate effect.

Export manifest compliance and EGM error rectification affect processing of export incentives and post-export benefits.
Customs authorities issued a public notice identifying EGM errors for May 2026 and reiterated the requirement under Section 41 of the Customs Act, 1962 for delivery of the departure manifest before departure. The notice states that incorrect or missing departure manifests may delay export incentives and directs exporters, customs brokers, shipping lines and others to rectify the errors in accordance with the specified standing orders or file the departure manifests as applicable.