FPI short term debt limits: short residual holdings capped and transition relief provided, with expanded monitoring measures.
FPIs may invest in treasury bills, G secs and SDLs; investments in any debt category with residual maturity below one year are limited to 20% of that FPI's total investment in that category at any point in time. The cap applies continuously, reckoning all securities with less than one year residual maturity at the time of measurement; FPIs exceeding the cap as of the transition date have six months to comply but must not add to the short residual portfolio during the transition. Corporate bonds are brought into the same short residual limit. Related FPIs aggregate investments for concentration limits and online monitoring of G sec limits will be implemented.

Merchandise Export Incentive Scheme rate increase for listed handicrafts exports, applicable retrospectively to the specified export period.
Amendment increases the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) rate to 7 for specified ITC (HS) codes in Table 2 of Appendix 3B of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20, harmonised with HS(2017), and applies the revised rates to exports made during the stated export period; handicrafts entries are included for enhanced benefit.

Interception of conveyances for inspection requires e way bills, checks, detention, release or confiscation under GST procedures.
Proper officers designated by jurisdictional Commissioners shall intercept and verify conveyances under sections 68, 129 and 130; missing or defective documents trigger FORM GST MOV 01 and FORM GST MOV 02, electronic reporting in FORM GST EWB 03, and physical verification concluded within three days (extension by FORM GST MOV 03). Release is by FORM GST MOV 05 where no discrepancies; detention uses FORM GST MOV 06 and notice in FORM GST MOV 07 with demand in FORM GST MOV 09. Non payment within seven days permits initiation of confiscation under FORM GST MOV 10 and final confiscation/order in FORM GST MOV 11; payments and securities are recorded in the electronic liability register and settled via electronic ledgers.

Monitoring of foreign investment limits: companies given extended deadline to submit data before new monitoring system goes live.
Companies must provide prescribed data to depositories by May 15, 2018, and SEBI's new centralized monitoring system for foreign investment limits will be made operational on May 18, 2018; custodians, depositories, stock exchanges and FPIs are directed to act on these timelines.

Pre-deposit requirement: appellants must make an additional deposit before filing appeals to CESTAT to ensure compliance.
Appellants preferring appeals to the CESTAT against a Commissionerer's (Appeals) order must deposit separately 10% of the duty or penalty confirmed or imposed, over and above the amount already deposited before the Commissioner (Appeals), as the quantum of pre-deposit required to institute the appeal.

Goods in transit inspection procedure sets rules for detention, release, confiscation, and e-way bill verification
Procedure for interception of vehicles carrying goods in transit is prescribed to ensure uniform enforcement of the Uttarakhand GST framework. A proper officer may stop a vehicle, require production of the prescribed invoice, bill of supply, delivery challan and E-way bill, and verify the documents either physically or electronically. Where no prima facie discrepancy is found, the vehicle may be allowed to proceed. Where documents are not produced or inspection is otherwise required, the officer must record the statement in Form GST MOV-01, issue an inspection order in Form GST MOV-02, and complete inspection within the prescribed time, subject to limited written extension.

External Commercial Borrowings liberalisation introduces uniform all in cost ceiling, expanded eligible borrowers, and standardized negative end uses.
External Commercial Borrowings policy is reformed to set a uniform all-in-cost ceiling tied to prescribed benchmark rates, raise the liability to equity ratio to 7:1 for ECBs from direct foreign equity holders under the automatic route (with a small value exception), expand eligible borrowers to include regulated Housing Finance Companies and Port Trusts (with 100% hedging for Track I) and permit certain INR denominated ECBs for MRO and freight forwarding companies, and to replace track specific positive/negative lists with a single negative end use list including prohibitions on real estate investment (subject to specified exceptions), capital market and equity investments, certain corporate uses for Tracks I and III unless raised from equity holders or group companies with minimum five year maturity, and on lending for prohibited activities.

FPI investment limits revised: operational rules change including maturity requirements, concentration and issue exposure caps.
The circular revises operational rules for FPI debt investment: minimum residual maturities for G secs, SDLs and corporate bonds are relaxed subject to a cap on short term residual maturity exposure; the aggregate FPI cap in any Central Government security is increased; CCIL online monitoring replaces the auction allocation mechanism; concentration limits by FPI sub category are imposed with transitional relaxations for existing excess holdings; corporate bond issue wise and corporate exposure caps are specified; and investment in partly paid instruments is prohibited, effective immediately.

Extension of filing deadline: fourth quarter VAT returns may be filed online by the extended date; payment procedure unchanged.
Extension granted for submission of fourth quarter 2017-18 VAT returns in Form DVAT 16, with annexures, to 13.05.2018; dealers filing electronically with a digital signature need not submit a hard copy of Form DVAT 56. The filing extension does not affect the obligation to pay tax, which remains governed by the applicable VAT provisions.

Importer identification and KYC compliance required; brokers must verify documents and accurate declarations to ensure smooth clearance.
Customs mandates strict KYC norms for Bill of Entry filing: custom brokers must verify client antecedents, IEC correctness, identity, and declared address using reliable authentic documents and, as necessary, confirm financial capacity by reviewing recent income tax returns, purchase orders, and bank attested invoices; brokers must submit accurate declarations including generic product descriptions, correct tariff classification, and matching unit quantity codes to ensure smooth clearance.

Recovery of Transitional Credit: arrears and inadmissible input credits to be recovered via electronic ledgers and liability register.
Inadmissible transitional input tax credit and arrears of VAT, entry tax or other taxes arising from proceedings under the existing law shall, unless already recovered, be recovered as State tax liabilities under the Goa GST Act. Such liabilities must be paid by utilizing balances in the registered person's electronic credit ledger or electronic cash ledger and recorded in Part II of the Electronic Liability Register (FORM GST PMT 01). Interest, penalty and late fees are to be paid from the electronic cash ledger and similarly recorded; unregistered dealers' arrears are to be recovered in cash under existing law procedures.

Deemed acceptance of LUTs: online submission generates acknowledgment; acceptance may be voided if exporter is ineligible.
Online submission of an LUT via FORM GST RFD-11 generates an acknowledgement with an ARN and the LUT is deemed to be accepted; no physical documents need be submitted. If it is later found that the exporter was ineligible to furnish an LUT in place of a bond, the LUT may be rejected and will be treated as rejected ab initio.

IT grievance redressal mechanism enables corrective filing and penalty waiver where GST portal glitches prevent compliant filing.
An IT Grievance Redressal Mechanism addresses systemic GST Common Portal failures that prevent classes of taxpayers from filing prescribed forms or returns; GSTN will identify affected taxpayers and forward issues with proposed solutions to the IT Grievance Redressal Committee (the GIC) which may approve corrective measures, direct implementation by GSTN and proper officers, and recommend waiver of fines or penalties under mitigating circumstances, with a targeted process for resolving TRAN 1 records stuck due to authentication glitches.

Job work under GST: clarifies tax exempt dispatches, principal's recordkeeping, invoicing, e waybill and ITC responsibilities.
Clarifies that under the Goa GST Act a registered principal may send inputs or capital goods to a job worker without payment of tax, subject to prescribed timelines for return or supply; failure to comply results in deemed supply by the principal on the date of initial dispatch. The principal bears recordkeeping and intimation duties, must file FORM GST ITC 04 quarterly, and ensure prescribed challans and e way bills are used. Job workers require registration based on aggregate turnover or inter State supply rules, must invoice and pay GST if registered, and both principal and job worker have defined input tax credit entitlements.

Zero-rated exports: accept post-facto LUT and process refunds using GST invoice or shipping bill valuation.
Directs recognition of Table 9 amendments in FORM GSTR-1 and reconciliation with FORM GSTR-3B; permits condonation of delayed filing of LUT and post-facto acceptance where exports are otherwise established; allows Commissioners to grant extensions when exports occur after prescribed periods without insisting on upfront tax payment; limits deficiency memos to one per refund filing requiring a fresh FORM GST RFD-01A thereafter; excludes transitional credit from "Net ITC" for refund computation; prescribes that the lower of GST invoice value and shipping bill value be sanctioned; BRC/FIRC required only for services, not for goods; and mandates processing refunds under existing laws where applicable while restricting additional documentary demands.

AOC-4 XBRL filing extension allows Ind AS companies to file without additional fee until 31 May.
Eligible companies required or voluntarily preparing financial statements under Ind AS for the financial year 2016-17 may file AOC-4 XBRL e-forms without payment of additional fee until 31 May 2018; the extension follows earlier General Circulars and stakeholder requests and is issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs with competent authority approval.

Supply of services by joint venture members may attract GST when cash calls constitute consideration for services provided.
A cash call will be taxed as consideration for a supply of services only if, on examination of the JV agreements and facts, it represents payment for activities or facilities provided by a member to the JV or by the JV to a member; where contributions are capital in nature and simply fund acquisition of assets for the JV, they are transactions in money and not taxable supplies.

Condonation of Delay Scheme extension: closing deadline moved due to gazetted holiday, allowing a brief additional filing day.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs authorised a one day extension of the closing date for the Condonation of Delay Scheme, 2018 because the original last date fell on a gazetted holiday; the extension was issued with the approval of the competent authority and notified to Regional Directors, Registrars of Companies and stakeholders for implementation.

GST classification of composite supplies determines tax treatment; PSLCs taxable as goods and certain DISCOM charges remain taxable.
Classification of composite supplies under GST depends on identification of the principal supply; bus body building involves goods and services and is classified case-by-case. Retreading of tyres is primarily a service with rubber ancillary, but sale of retreaded tyres by the retreader who supplies old tyres is a supply of goods. Priority Sector Lending Certificates are taxable as goods and eligible for input tax credit. Transmission and distribution of electricity is exempt, while ancillary DISCOM charges are taxable. Government guarantee commissions to business entities are taxable services.

GST classification of services clarified: exemptions and applicable rates for hostel, tribunal fees, recreational, rental, healthcare and cost petroleum.
Clarifies GST treatment: hostel accommodation by trusts is not a charitable activity but accommodation below a specified tariff is exempt; fees and penalties received by Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions are not supplies subject to GST; elephant and camel rides are recreational services not passenger transport; rental/leasing of self propelled access equipment is taxed at the rate applicable to like goods with import IGST creditable; healthcare services and inpatient food on medical advice are exempt as composite healthcare supplies; Cost Petroleum is not consideration for services to government and not taxable per se.