Mandatory hedge coverage for certain external commercial borrowings reduced, easing hedging obligations for eligible borrowers.
Mandatory hedge coverage for specified External Commercial Borrowings under Track I has been reduced for medium-term maturities; new ECBs must comply with the reduced hedge requirement and existing ECBs within scope must roll-over hedges only to the extent of the reduced coverage. Other ECB provisions remain unchanged, the Master Direction will be updated, and AD Category-I banks must notify constituents. Directions are issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act and are without prejudice to other statutory permissions.

Extension of Letter of Permission validity under SEZ regulatory framework, with conditional co-developer and SEZ establishment approvals.
The Board recorded approvals and procedural directions on SEZ matters: ratification of prior minutes; extensions of Letter of Permission (LoP) validity for specified units; approvals of co-developer status and a sector-specific pharmaceutical SEZ subject to standard regulatory conditions, continuity of obligations, eligibility and security clearances, and furnishing of financial and tax information to revenue authorities; conditional approvals for change of shareholding or name requiring compliance with revenue and corporate laws and acceptance of tax assessment jurisdiction; interim extension of LoPs for plastic recycling and used-clothing units and constitution of an interdepartmental committee to examine related policy, environmental and industry concerns.

Spontaneous exchange of rulings identifies cross-border pricing mismatches and informs action to prevent base erosion and profit shifting.
Templates received under BEPS Action 5 cover preferential regime rulings, unilateral APAs, cross-border downward profit adjustments, PE rulings and conduit rulings; where Indian residents (ultimate parent, immediate parent, related party, head office, payer or ultimate beneficial owner) are involved, the templates must be used to assess whether economic activity and taxable income in India are commensurate with value creation and to detect pricing mismatches risking base erosion. Additional information may be requested via Exchange of Information and all received information is subject to treaty confidentiality requirements.

Arrest and Incident Reporting must use prescribed proformas and be submitted electronically to designated investigation addresses.
The Board mandates use of prescribed proformas: Annexure I for Arrest Reports and Annexure II for Incident Reports, each listing required data fields (identity, offence, seizure, commodity, modus operandi). All such reports shall be sent only by e-mail to designated investigation addresses; hard-copy submission is discontinued. Chief Commissioners and Directors General are directed to circulate and implement the guidelines and to flag implementation difficulties to the Board.

Corporate Social Responsibility committee reconstitution establishes a panel to review framework and recommend enforcement and monitoring.
Re-constitution of a High Level Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility creates a ministerially mandated panel chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, to review the CSR framework, recommend enforcement guidelines, and propose monitoring and evaluation measures including financial, performance and social audit. The committee may set its own procedures, form sub committees, invite experts, meet anywhere in India, and will be supported by designated institutes; outstation members receive prescribed travel facilities and the panel must submit its report to the Ministry within its tenure.

Compulsory registration for commission agents depends on principal being taxable and supplies being taxable under GST law.
Corrigendum clarifies that compulsory registration for commission agents under clause (vii) of section 24 of the WBGST Act arises only when both the principal is a taxable person and the supplies made by the agent are taxable; commission agents acting for agriculturists who are not taxable persons are not compulsorily registrable under that clause, though agents liable to pay tax under reverse charge must register under the separate reverse charge registration provision.

Refund of advance entry tax: voluntary deposits refundable after verification, no interest, claim with detailed breakup required.
Refunds are available for legitimate balances of voluntarily deposited advance entry tax where no liability remains after transition to the J&K GST framework; claimants must apply within one month to the officer in charge with a detailed breakup of deposits, utilizations and balance, and the officer in charge will verify records and determine refunds without interest, following procedures as under the former Entry Tax on Goods Act, 2000.

Tax at Source collection: Tea Board must collect TCS from sellers on goods and from auctioneers on brokerage services.
Tea Board, as electronic commerce operator under section 52 WBGST Act, must collect Tax at Source (TCS) from sellers (tea producers) on the net value of goods supplied (tea) and from auctioneers on the net value of services (brokerage), where buyers pay consolidated sums into an escrow account and the Tea Board disburses payments to sellers and auctioneers accordingly.

Agent characterisation determines whether del credere interest is included in goods' taxable value under GST rules.
A del credere agent (DCA) guarantees payment by advancing payment or credit; whether the DCA is an agent under Schedule I depends on invoicing: if the supplier issues the invoice, the DCA is not an agent; if the DCA invoices in its own name, it is an agent. If not an agent, short term credit by the DCA is an independent supply and interest need not be included in the goods' value. If an agent, the credit is subsumed in the goods' supply and interest must be included in the taxable value.

Return of time expired goods: treat as fresh supply or issue credit note with differing Input Tax Credit consequences.
Registered taxpayers (other than composition taxpayers) may treat return of time expired goods as a fresh supply by issuing an invoice, enabling the recipient to claim ITC subject to Section 16. Composition taxpayers must issue a bill of supply and pay composition tax on return with no ITC to recipient; unregistered persons may use a commercial document without charging tax. Alternatively, a supplier may issue a credit note under Section 34; if issued within the statutory time limit tax may be adjusted provided the recipient has not availed or has reversed ITC, whereas credit notes beyond the time limit cannot be used to adjust tax or need portal declaration. If returned goods are destroyed, the manufacturer must reverse ITC as prescribed.

Casual taxable person advance tax should account for eligible input tax credit, affecting registration deposit.
Advance tax deposit by a casual taxable person must be calculated on the estimated net tax liability after accounting for eligible input tax credit; long-running exhibitions beyond the casual period require normal registration with allotment letter as place-of-business proof and no advance tax at registration, with option to surrender after the exhibition. Excess credit distributed by an Input Service Distributor must be recovered from recipients with interest and penalty; recipients may repay voluntarily via FORM GST DRC-03, otherwise recovery proceedings may be initiated and FORM GST DRC-07 used, and the ISD faces a general statutory penalty for wrongful distribution.

Refund procedure after deficiency memo: re-credit of electronic credit ledger not required and rectified application accepted under same ARN.
Where a deficiency memo in FORM GST RFD-03 is issued, taxpayers must submit rectified refund applications under the original ARN and re-credit to the electronic credit ledger via FORM GST RFD-01B is not required presently; exporters who imported inputs or capital goods under the specified customs notifications may claim IGST refund until the later notification, whereas post-notification importers under those notifications are excluded but recipients of capital goods under the EPCG Scheme remain eligible.

MEIS eligibility expanded to include non-basmati rice, granting export incentive for the specified retrospective export period.
Amendment to Appendix 3B, Table 2 adds specified HS codes for husked (brown) rice, parboiled rice, other parboiled categories and broken rice, making these non-basmati rice items eligible for MEIS benefits at the prescribed incentive rate for exports made with effect from 26.11.2018 up to 25.03.2019.

Cancellation of GST registration: officers must accept complete REG-16 applications and issue cancellation from applicant's requested date.
Processing of cancellation applications in FORM GST REG-16 requires officers to accept complete applications and issue cancellation orders in FORM GST REG-19 with the effective date matching the applicant's requested date (not earlier than the application date). The portal requires specified particulars including reason and date of cancellation, stock and tax details, transferee registration particulars where applicable, and last return ARN; incomplete applications warrant a written query with seven working days for reply before system rejection with recorded reasons. Cancellation does not relieve prior or subsequent liabilities and affected taxpayers must file a final return and discharge any residual output tax liability.

GST exemption for religious and yoga residential programmes applies when primary purpose is spiritual advancement, otherwise services are taxable.
Fees charged by entities registered under Section 12AA for participation in residential programmes or camps meant for advancement of religion, spirituality or yoga, including amounts covering lodging and boarding, are exempt where the primary and predominant purpose is advancement of religion, spirituality or yoga; provision of accommodation or food primarily for consideration and activities like fitness, aerobics, dance or music are taxable.

Tax Deduction at Source under MGST Act: procedures for DDOs to deduct, deposit and report TDS monthly.
DDOs must register on the GST portal, deduct TDS at the prescribed rate from supplier payments, book deductions to the designated Suspense Head, and periodically aggregate and remit those amounts via CPIN generated on GSTN using NEFT/RTGS or OTC. Upon payment a CIN is received and credited to the electronic Cash Ledger; DDOs must maintain records (Annexure A), file FORM GSTR-7 by the 10th of the following month, and issue TDS certificates in FORM GSTR-7A to deductees.

Transition of customs functions centralises export procedures and container sealing under Customs Pune; corrigendum updates Kolhapur range address.
Transition of Customs functions transfers responsibility for export procedures and sealing of containerized export cargo from Central Excise/GST officers to Customs formations under the Commissioner of Customs, Pune, centralising export clearance and sealing within Customs ranges. A corrigendum to the Trade Notice amends the address of the Customs Facilitation Range Kolhapur in Annexure A, notifying stakeholders in the Pune zones of the replacement address.

Town of Export Excellence designation: Bhadohi added for carpets under Appendix of the Foreign Trade Policy.
An amendment to Appendix 1B of the Hand Book of Procedures 2015-20 designates Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh, as a Town of Export Excellence for carpets and other floor coverings under powers conferred by paragraph 1.03 of the Foreign Trade Policy, formally notifying its inclusion in the list of towns recognised for focused export promotion within the Handbook framework.

Anti-dumping duty on saccharin: import clearances to be provisional and importers informed of pending litigation.
Customs formations are directed to keep assessments provisional, account for goods given clearance, and inform importers that litigation is pending and that clearance is subject to the result of Special Civil Application No. 1399 of 2018; finalization of assessments is to await disposal of the petition or further instructions.

Paperless processing under SWIFT enables digital upload and linking of export Shipping Bill supporting documents for online assessment.
Implementation of Paperless Processing under SWIFT allows authorized persons to upload digitally signed supporting documents for export Shipping Bills on ICEGATE's eSANCHIT, obtain an Image Reference Number for post-generation uploads, and link documents to Shipping Bills via amendment. Customs officers access uploaded documents online during assessment; the Shipping Bill Regulations require authorized persons to retain original supporting documents for five years and produce them when required.