Gold certificate holding allowed: mutual funds may hold bank-issued GDS certificates in dematerialized or physical form.
Gold certificates issued by banks under the Gold Deposit Scheme for investments by Gold Exchange Traded Funds may be held by mutual funds in either dematerialized form or physical form, pursuant to a modification of paragraph 2(c) of an earlier circular, issued under SEBI's regulatory powers to protect investors and regulate the securities market.

ACU payment eligibility limited to export and import transactions; other payments excluded except by mutual agreement.
ACU settlement is limited to payments for export/import transactions between ACU member countries, including deferred payment terms; transactions not on account of such export/import trade are ineligible for ACU settlement except to the extent mutually agreed between the Reserve Bank and other participants, and trade with Myanmar may be settled in any freely convertible currency.

Provisional release of export goods: facilitate genuine exports, avoid prolonged detention and report excessive hold ups.
Provisional release must be granted for export consignments detained for investigation by allowing provisional release on execution of a bond and suitable security to cover redemption fines and penalties, to prevent undue delay and port congestion where declarations await confirmation or are suspected to be mis declared. Exports should only be withheld where goods are prohibited under the Customs Act or ITC (HS) Policy; continued detention beyond three days should be reported to the Commissioner of Customs (Port).

Primary packaging designation: mono cartons treated as primary packaging and require GS1 Data Matrix barcodes encoding GTIN, batch, expiry, serial.
The DGFT amendment requires 2D (GS1 Data Matrix) barcodes on medicines at strip, vial or bottle (primary pack) level encoding GTIN, Batch Number, Expiry Date and Serial Number, and clarifies that mono cartons containing strips, vials or bottles are to be treated as part of primary packaging for export consignments of pharmaceuticals and drugs.

Revision of TRO Manual: committee to submit draft within two months; chair allowed to co opt additional officers.
Constitution of a committee to revisit and revise the Manual for Tax Recovery Officers to reflect emphasis on tax recovery, modern recovery methods, improved tax administration and computerisation; the Order appoints a chairperson, members and a Member Secretary, permits the Chairperson to co opt additional officers, and requires submission of a draft TRO Manual within two months from the date of the Order.

Exporters' refunds will be credited via RTGS/NEFT; claimants must submit one-time bank authorisation and fees may be deducted.
Sanctioned rebate and refund amounts must be paid electronically via the RTGS/NEFT facility of State Bank of India, Rajkot from 01.11.2013. Claimants filing fresh claims after 15.10.2013 must submit a bank-certified One Time Authorisation (Annexure A) valid for one financial year; changes require fresh Authorisation. Divisional sanctioning authorities will maintain an Authorisation Register, submit Annexure B with a consolidated cheque to the authorised SBI branch, and record payment UTR details in the Refund/Rebate Order. Banks may deduct RTGS/NEFT charges and must provide remittance details in Annexure B-1.

Designation of Central Public Information Officers as first appellate authorities in HRD Directorate, superseding prior order.
Designation of Central Public Information Officers and first appellate authority for divisions in the Human Resource Development wing is ordered, superseding the earlier notification; one pairing is assigned to the Cadre Management Division and another pairing to the Performance Management Division, the Training and Capacity Building Division and administrative functions including circulars, trade notices, public notices, instructions and office orders, effective immediately and until further orders.

Closing of old export bills permitted as a one time regulatory measure, subject to eligibility, non suit, and reporting requirements.
Authorized Dealer Category I banks may close certain long outstanding export bills as a one time measure if the case has no pending civil or criminal suit, the exporter is not under adverse notice by enforcement agencies, there are no externalisation issues, and the bill meets prescribed vintage and ceiling criteria; untraceable customers require proof of non traceability and adherence to the bank's board approved policy. Closed cases must be reported to the Reserve Bank's Regional Offices in the annexed Excel format and will be excluded from future Export Outstanding Statements.

Mandatory VAT audit requirement: chartered accountants must submit AR1 and follow standards; selected dealers may face special audit.
The circular mandates a VAT Audit by Chartered Accountants for dealers meeting the prescribed turnover threshold, requiring submission of the prescribed AR1 Audit Report for the specified financial year within the stated timeline; audits must strictly follow the DVAT Act, VAT Rules and related departmental guidance. Selected dealers may undergo Special Audit based on risk profiling; audit reports will be peer-reviewed and compared with system profiles, with panel membership and disciplinary referrals contingent on report quality and timeliness.

Duty drawback scheme: require provisional brand rate letters within seven days and strengthen audit and BRC controls.
Requires that, on receipt of a complete Rule 7 application with a contemporaneous request to claim drawback on the relevant AIR provisionally, the Central Excise officer shall issue a Provisional Brand Rate Letter within seven days specifying shipping bill details, itemwise AIR tariff entries, rate, cap, and bifurcated Customs and Central Excise/Service Tax components aligned to claimed incidence; final brand rate letters must reconcile the provisional amount and rejections must be endorsed to Customs to treat the provisional grant as final and update records.

Refund claim processing: system reconciliation required; mismatches removed from auto processing and refunds adjusted against demands.
Dealers must submit sales against specified forms electronically (C/H/I/E1/E2/J quarterly; F monthly). Mismatches between dealer data and department records eliminate cases from auto processing and prompt referral for reconciliation. The system computes tax liability for missing forms, allows reconciliation only with eligible CST payments, and prevents reuse of payments already applied to demands. Default assessment applies for pending forms up to 2011-12; dealers may opt to exclude 2012-13 pending forms cases from auto processing. Assessment, adjustment and refund orders will be generated and refunds adjusted against demands; remaining balances will be disbursed via ECS.

Overseas borrowing flexibility for authorised banks expanded, with conditional access for general banking and swap eligibility.
Authorised Dealer Category I banks may borrow overseas from head offices, overseas branches, correspondents or other entities permitted by the Reserve Bank up to one hundred per cent of unimpaired Tier I capital or the specified floor amount, subject to conditions directed by the Reserve Bank. Temporary permission is granted to borrow from international and multilateral financial institutions until November 30, 2013 for general banking business (not capital augmentation); such borrowings must meet conditions in specified A.P. (DIR Series) circulars and are eligible for the concessional swap facility.

Labeling compliance for imported packaged goods requires prior permission before clearance; non-compliance may trigger customs action.
Importers must declare compliance with the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 and, where conditions are unmet, obtain written permission from the AC/DC (Import Shed) to label imported goods before registration of the bill of entry. The AC/DC will instruct shed officers to verify labeling compliance prior to clearance. This uniform procedure applies to all goods under the referenced DGFT notification irrespective of levy or claimed notification benefits, and failure to follow it may result in action including penalties under the Customs Act, 1962.

Income tax deduction from salaries requires employers to compute withholding on estimated salary including perquisites and remit TDS.
Employers must deduct income tax at source under Section 192 on estimated salary income for FY 2013-14 by including taxable perquisites valued under Rule 3, allowing deductions under section 16 and Chapter VI A within statutory limits, computing tax at Finance Act, 2013 rates (age based slabs), adding surcharge and education cesses, and remitting tax monthly with provision for intra year adjustment. Employers must obtain and quote TAN and employees' PAN, issue Form 16 (Part A via TRACES; Part B manually), file quarterly Form 24Q, and comply with Form 24G procedures when tax is deposited by book entry; failure to deduct, deposit or report invokes interest, penalty and prosecution provisions.

Special Deposit Scheme interest rate revised, deposits under non-government provident, superannuation and gratuity funds now bear the notified rate.
Revision of interest rate under the Special Deposit Scheme (SDS), 1975 requires that deposits by non government provident, superannuation and gratuity funds shall bear the newly notified rate; the Ministry of Finance notification directs deposit offices to implement the change and acknowledge receipt.

Regularization of export obligation defaults permits duty payment with interest capped at the duty, enabling closure of eligible cases.
Notification No. 46/2013-Customs permits authorization holders to regularize bona fide defaults in meeting export obligation by paying the applicable customs duty for the shortfall together with interest, provided the interest paid does not exceed the duty; cases with ongoing export obligation periods are excluded and payment must be completed by the prescribed cutoff.

e-KYC acceptance: UIDAI e-KYC now valid proof of identity and address for intermediaries, client authorization required.
SEBI requires regulated intermediaries to accept UIDAI's e-KYC as a valid KYC verification method, treating the information and photograph obtained through e-KYC as sufficient proof of identity and address, provided the client authorizes the intermediary to access their UIDAI data; this directive is issued under the powers of Section 11(1) to protect investors and regulate markets.

Specified restaurant service tax applies where any part of an establishment is air-conditioned; non AC demarcated outlets remain exempt.
Service tax applies to services rendered by a specified restaurant-one with any air conditioning or central air heating at any time in the year. Where a complex has clearly demarcated air conditioned and non air conditioned restaurants supplied from a common kitchen, only the specified restaurant's services are taxable while the non AC outlet's services remain exempt with Cenvat credit treatment under the Cenvat Credit Rules. Services by a specified restaurant in other hotel areas are taxable, and goods sold on fixed MRP must be excluded when determining the service value.

Mutual fund distributor access to stock exchange infrastructure enables direct purchase and redemption with direct clearing and demat settlement.
Allows Mutual Fund Distributors registered with AMFI, and permitted by the concerned recognised stock exchange, to use recognised stock exchanges' infrastructure to purchase and redeem mutual fund units directly from mutual funds/AMCs on behalf of clients; distributors shall not handle pay-in, pay-out or unit custody, with clearing corporations and depositories ensuring direct settlement to investor accounts and demat accounts, and exchanges shall prescribe permission criteria and operating guidelines.

Appointment of common adjudicating authority assigned adjudication of three show cause notices to a specified Additional Commissioner.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs assigns adjudication of three show cause notices against Divya Tourism Private Limited to Shri J. S. Negi, Additional Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Service Tax, Ahmedabad, and directs that the adjudication be answerable to the Additional Commissioner in that office, while identifying the originating service tax divisions for administrative linkage.