Debenture Redemption Reserve clarified: applicability by issuer type and annual minimum deposit requirement for maturing debentures.
No DRR is required for debentures issued by All India Financial Institutions regulated by the Reserve Bank and for Banking Companies. NBFCs registered with the Reserve Bank must maintain DRR adequacy for public issues while privately placed debentures require no DRR. Other companies (including manufacturing and infrastructure) must maintain DRR for public issues and, for listed companies, for privately placed debentures; unlisted private placements attract DRR. Companies required to maintain DRR must, before 30 April each year, deposit or invest a minimum percentage of debentures maturing in the following year in prescribed unencumbered instruments, usable only for repayment of those maturing debentures.

Exchange of information expanded to permit banking data and limited non tax use, and cross border tax examinations authorized.
The Amending Protocol to the India-Sweden DTAC replaces the exchange-of-information Article to permit exchange of banking information and information without domestic interest, and allows use of supplied information for non tax purposes with the supplying State's approval. The Protocol also adds an Article enabling officials of one State to enter the other State to assist in conducting tax examinations abroad, thereby expanding mutual administrative and investigative assistance under the Convention.

Subsidy ineligibility for manufacturers of calcined petroleum coke and bitumen emulsion confirmed due to refinery by product feedstock.
Manufacturing units producing Calcined Petroleum Coke and Bitumen Emulsion are excluded from subsidy eligibility under the North East industrial incentive framework because their principal raw materials are by products of petroleum refineries and thus fall within the policy's negative list.

Liquidity enhancement schemes for illiquid equity securities allow exchanges to appoint monitored liquidity enhancers under strict disclosure.
Permits introduction of Liquidity Enhancement Schemes in the Equity Cash market for securities meeting specified mean impact cost or "permitted to trade" criteria; LES remain until mean impact cost falls below the threshold, require 15 days' notice for discontinuation, and may be adopted by other exchanges only for the initiating period. Exchanges must secure Board approval, monitor LES quarterly, define liquidity enhancer obligations, ensure transparency and compliance, disclose schemes and monthly outcomes, limit incentive forms and aggregate incentives under prescribed caps, and implement anti collusion and self matching safeguards.

FII debt limit increase broadens permitted investments and relaxes maturity and lock in requirements for debt categories.
SEBI amends FII investment rules: Government Debt Long Term cap increased and three year residual maturity at first purchase removed (treasury bills excluded); corporate non infrastructure incremental allocation excludes CDs and CPs; lock in requirements removed for specified long term infrastructure bond and IDF sub categories with a 15 month residual maturity at first purchase; auctions will allocate incremental and unutilized limits with 30 day utilisation for government debt and 60 day for corporate debt; reinvestment periods remain unchanged.

Duty Credit Scrip computation now based on basic customs duty paid, with CENVAT non availment certificate exceptions.
Computation of freely transferable Duty Credit Scrip(s) will be based on basic customs duty paid. Where an exporter obtains EPCG authorisation declaring non availment of CENVAT, Export Obligation and Duty Credit Scrip issuance will be fixed and issued with reference to basic customs duty paid and supported by a Central Excise certificate of non availment, except where the unit is not registered with Central Excise. Capital goods imported under the FTP must not be disposed of until the last export for offset, and re exported defective CG claiming drawback will not amount to remission of duty under the FTP.

Export product description amended to include linen, broadening eligible textile exports under the SION entry.
SION No. J-44 in the Handbook of Procedures, Vol. II is amended to replace 'Flax Fabrics Dyed' with 'Flax dyed fabric/Linen dyed fabric', thereby explicitly including linen in the export product description for that textile SION entry.

Extension of filing deadlines and fee relaxation for forms affected by MCA-21 transition, subject to RD/ROC approval.
The Ministry authorises extension of filing deadlines and relaxation of additional fees for forms whose due dates fell on or after 17 January 2013 due to MCA-21 transition issues. Relief includes waiver of additional fees, restoration of expired name reservations and documents, case-by-case extension for charge filings, and extension for court/competent authority filings. Regional Directors and Registrars of Companies will consider requests individually and implement extensions via a service-desk ticketing process; eligible extensions are available until 28 February 2013. Filings already completed after 17 January 2013 before this circular are not eligible for relaxation or refund.

Initial offering period extension for RGESS-eligible mutual funds permits longer subscription and extended allotment and refund timelines.
The circular extends the maximum initial subscription period for RGESS-eligible mutual fund schemes from fifteen days to thirty days, and extends the period for unit allotment, refunds and issuance of statements of account following closure of the initial subscription from five working days to fifteen days; the changes are effective immediately and regulatory amendments will follow.

Custom House Agent licensing: prior examination under earlier regulations suffices for eligibility without requiring additional new-subject exams.
Persons who passed the examination under the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 1984 are not required to reappear under the 2004 Regulations; Board has deleted Paras 8.1 and 8.2 of the earlier circular, removing the requirement to qualify in specified new subjects, and such candidates, subject to other licensing requirements, are directly eligible for grant of a Custom House Agent license.

Single revolving bank guarantee renumbering ensures corrected circular reference and requires trade publicity and acknowledgment.
The corrigendum corrects the administrative serial number of the Circular concerning the Single Revolving Bank Guarantee for import of silver, gold or platinum by re designating the earlier misnumbered Circular to the proper register for the current year; it instructs issuance of Trade/Public Notice for wide publicity and requests acknowledgement of receipt.

Refund of Additional Duty: procedure for returning endorsed originals while retaining certified photocopies for processing and audit.
Refund of Additional Duty requires original evidence of payment-Importer's duplicate Bill of Entry and corresponding TR-6 Challan-submitted with photocopies at claim filing. On receipt, the processing officer shall stamp and sign originals and photocopies to record submission and verification; originals are returned while endorsed photocopies are retained for processing, audit and review. For postal claims, originals and photocopies must be sent and originals will be returned by post within two weeks; importers should follow up if originals are not received within four weeks.

Job work removals: procedural conditions require serialised movement documents, sender accounting responsibility, and time bound return obligations.
Removal of inputs or partially processed inputs to a job worker is allowed under Rule 16A subject to conditions prescribed by the Commissioner. Goods must be moved under a duplicate printed document with running serial numbers, signed by the sender, and containing the sender's registration and registering Range/Division/Commissionerate and a description, quantity and value. The sender remains responsible for accounting and must ensure goods return within six months or pay duty with interest. The job worker must acknowledge receipt, may return goods duty free after endorsement or clear for home consumption on payment, and both parties must maintain simple receipt/dispatch accounts.

Reserve price determination requires Valuation Cell valuation; Appropriate Authority fixes reserve price, reductions need prior Board approval.
Procedure requires referral of acquired property to the Department's Valuation Cell for a Detailed Valuation Report with at least three comparable sales; the Appropriate Authority shall set the reserve price based on that report, and any proposal to fix it below the Valuation Cell's valuation must be submitted to the Board with detailed reasons; the determined reserve price has a limited validity period.

Working Saturdays ordered to improve revenue collection; department to remain open Saturdays during official hours.
The Department of Trade & Taxes directs that all Saturdays are to be treated as working days until 31.03.2013 to accelerate revenue collection; the department will remain open on Saturdays during official hours for day-to-day office work. The administrative instruction mandates attendance for all officers and officials and warns that non-compliance will be taken seriously.

Registration of Duty Credit Scrips: EDI entry after genuineness checks and random verification ensures documentary compliance.
Registration requires presentation of original scrips with annexures and BRCs to TA (License) for acknowledgment and forwarding to AO/Supdt; ACAO checks the Alert Register and Licence genuineness is confirmed via DGFT. On no alert and no discrepancy the AO/Supdt registers the scrip in the EDI system, endorses Job and Registration Numbers on originals and returns originals against acknowledgment. Random documentary verification and crosschecking of shipping bills, FOB values and BRCs with EGM/EDI records are conducted and any discrepancies are referred to DC/AC (Licence) for action.

SEZ minutes amendment corrects the recorded land addition and confirms administrative approval and circulation to concerned agencies.
Amendment to Board of Approval minutes corrects Item No. 56.16 by replacing the recorded "addition of 46.3773 hectares" with "addition of 40.7356 hectares." The Office Memorandum dated 4 February 2013 states the change is made with the approval of the Joint Secretary (SEZ) and is circulated to designated agencies and officials for their records.

Delay in appellate petition filing now requires named officer responsibility for late submissions under SOP.
An instruction identifies systemic delays in appellate petition filings and directs that if a petition proposal reaches the legal directorate more than ninety days after judgment, the CCIT/DGIT must fix responsibility and the proposal must name the officer(s) responsible, to enforce SOP filing standards and internal accountability.

Scheme of Arrangement compliance: revised filing, disclosure and timeline obligations for listed companies, stock exchanges and SEBI coordination.
Revised framework requires listed companies to file Draft Scheme and prescribed documents with a designated stock exchange, place an independent valuation before the Audit Committee, publish the Draft Scheme and Observation Letter on company and exchange websites, and include the Observation Letter and a Complaints Report in shareholder notices. Designated exchanges must forward the Draft Scheme to SEBI promptly, process and issue Objection/No Objection letters and Observation Letters within set timelines. SEBI will review, seek clarifications or independent opinions and communicate comments to exchanges; post sanction, the approved Scheme, voting results, compliance statement and other documents must be submitted for listing and trading commencement under prescribed timelines, with Observation Letters valid for six months.

Deemed export benefits limited to supplies to specified mega power projects certified by Ministry of Power, subject to policy conditions.
Deemed export benefits are confined to supplies for Mega Power Projects included in List 32A of Notification No.49/2012-Customs; the zero duty import concession applies only to projects certified by an officer not below Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Power before 19 July 2012, and benefits for these 111 listed projects remain subject to the conditions of the Department of Revenue notification, the Foreign Trade Policy, and the Handbook of Procedures.