Bonded warehouses: duty deferred until domestic clearance, centralized approvals and zero-rating for exports streamline operations.
Approval for manufacturing in bonded warehouses is centralized with the jurisdictional Commissioner of Customs; imports of capital goods and inputs are allowed without duty payment until clearance to the domestic tariff area, exports of resultants are zero-rated, there is no limit on export or domestic clearance and no mandatory minimum export obligation, and compliance is to be managed through a single digitalized account with nodal officers designated for stakeholder outreach.

Extension of TDS compliance deadlines for affected Odisha deductors grants additional time for deposit, filing and certificate issuance.
Extension of TDS compliance deadlines for deductors in the State of Odisha: the Board extends the due date for depositing tax deducted at source for April 2019 to a later date in May, extends the due date for filing the quarterly TDS statement for the last quarter of financial year 2018-19 into June, and extends the due date for issuance of TDS certificates in Forms 16 and 16A by one month for affected deductors.

TDS deadline extensions for Odisha deductors provide procedural relief for deposit, filing and certificate issuance after cyclone disruption.
Exercise of administrative power under section 119 grants deductors in Odisha time-limited procedural relief due to cyclone-related disruption: extensions for depositing TDS for April 2019, filing the quarterly TDS statement for the last quarter of 2018-19, and issuance of TDS certificates in Form 16 and Form 16A, each replacing the original deposit, filing, or issuance deadline for deductors in the State of Odisha.

Income tax TDS deduction must exclude GST component and follow CBDT circular procedure for full compliance.
Income tax TDS deductions by drawing and disbursing officers must exclude the GST component and follow the procedure laid down in CBDT Circular No. 23/2017 dated 19.07.2017. The circular is forwarded to concerned officers with directions to make deductions strictly in accordance with that procedure and to ensure full compliance.

Real estate GST FAQs circulated for guidance to officers and trade organisations across the department.
The Commercial Tax Department, Uttar Pradesh, circulated a set of 41 GST FAQs relating to the real estate sector issued by the GST Council Secretariat. The letter requested that the material be communicated to subordinate officers and trade organisations. The communication is informational in nature and disseminates real estate-related FAQ guidance to field officers and stakeholders.

Voluntary Retention Route permits FPIs to commit retained holdings in Indian debt for regulatory relaxations and allocation benefits.
The Reserve Bank introduces the Voluntary Retention Route (VRR) allowing SEBI registered FPIs to hold a Committed Portfolio Size (CPS) in Indian debt outside certain macro prudential norms, provided they retain at least 75% of CPS on an end of day basis for a minimum Retention Period (generally three years). Allocations are additional to General Investment Limits, made by tap or auction with an overall cap and tranche releases; custodians must monitor compliance, block repatriation that breaches thresholds, and report violations to SEBI.

Prosecution timing for foreign currency and foreign national offences permits launching prosecution promptly, even prior to service of notice.
Prosecution timing under the Customs Act normally follows completion of adjudication, but for specified contraband items - such as gold, foreign currency, FICN, arms, explosives, antiques, art treasures, and protected wildlife and flora - prosecution is preferred immediately after issuance of a Show Cause Notice. For cases involving foreign nationals, prosecution may be launched at the earliest, even before issuance of the Show Cause Notice, to mitigate difficulties in securing accused presence and service of process.

Intelligence wing restructuring centralises data, technical retrieval, surveys and investigations for intelligence based GST inspections and enforcement.
Restructures the GST Intelligence wing to centralise intelligence led enforcement under the Commissioner, with a Central Intelligence wing (Investigation, Data, Technical and Survey cells and a Coordination unit) preparing investigation files for Commissioner approval; and nine divisional Intelligence Divisions led by Joint Commissioners replicating investigation, inspection, review, adjudication, legal, demand collection and roving squad functions to conduct intelligence based inspections and enforcement.

Assessment practice for petroleum products: second check allowed with valid PTR; otherwise first check with mandatory lab testing.
Revised assessment practice for petroleum imports under CTH 27101960 and 27101990: manufacturer importers who are actual users with an overseas manufacturer supplier and a valid PTR may obtain final assessment on second check where manufacturer and supplier credentials and PTR details are uploaded to e sanchit. Manufacturer importers with non manufacturer foreign suppliers may obtain provisional second check assessment with samples sent to DYCC/designated laboratory if a valid PTR is uploaded and declared. All other cases, including non manufacturer importers or lack of valid PTR, require first check assessment with mandatory laboratory testing.

Manufacturing in bonded warehouses: combined recordkeeping and export/domestic clearance rules with GST and duty obligations.
Applicants for manufacturing or other operations in bonded warehouses must hold a private bonded warehouse licence and use a single application process; licensees must maintain consolidated digital accounts in the Annexure B format (combining MOOWR and Warehouse Regulations data), execute the prescribed triple duty bond, and submit monthly returns. Exported resultant products require a shipping bill and warehoused removal procedures with no import duty on contained inputs; domestic clearance is a taxable supply under GST, requiring an ex-bond bill of entry, payment of GST and import duties on contained inputs, and reflection of transactions in Annexure B.

Mandatory eSANCHIT upload: digitally signed supporting documents required at filing of shipping bills; hard copies disallowed.
Mandatory uploading of digitally signed supporting documents on eSANCHIT is required at the time of filing Shipping Bills; exporters and customs brokers must submit documents electronically and hard copies will no longer be accepted.

RCMC electronic verification replaces physical submissions; single RCMC suffices and additional RCMCs remain optional for exporters.
Physical submission of RCMCs is discontinued and RCMC validity will be checked electronically from the DGFT database as uploaded by EPCs; exporters can verify upload status on the DGFT RCMC portal. An entity needs only one RCMC from its relevant EPC under Appendix 2T and may add businesses without mandatory additional RCMCs; additional RCMCs are optional. If a goods RCMC holder exports services later, a separate SEPC RCMC is not required and SEPC membership is optional.

Portfolio Managers may trade exchange-traded commodity derivatives for clients with mandatory custodian, disclosures and reporting obligations.
Portfolio Managers may participate in Exchange Traded Commodity Derivatives on behalf of clients after entering into an agreement or addendum with the client, must appoint a SEBI-registered custodian before dealing, provide disclosures in the Disclosure Document and agreement regarding risks, margins, position limits and valuation, assume responsibility for disposing of any physical goods delivered within client-agreed timelines, not onboard Foreign Portfolio Investors for such participation, and report exposures in monthly regulatory reports under "Commodity Derivatives."

Accredited investor accreditation for Innovators Growth Platform sets eligibility, verification and validity requirements and verification duties.
The circular defines Accredited Investors (AIs) for the Innovators Growth Platform and prescribes eligibility criteria (individual income and liquid net worth; corporate net worth), documentary evidence and calculation methodologies. It allocates responsibilities to Exchanges/Depositories to receive applications, verify and maintain AI records (using brokers/DPs for intake if desired) and to grant accreditation for a prescribed validity subject to notification of changed ineligibility. Merchant bankers must perform due diligence on AI eligibility at the time of listing, and Exchanges/Depositories must implement the procedure, publish the provisions and amend rules within specified timelines.

Drawback claims pending due to PFMS bank account mismatches; exporters must amend PFMS details to enable payment.
Drawback claims in the SCROLL_IN queue are pending as "PFMS rejected" due to incorrect bank account data submitted in PFMS that mismatches ICEGATE; exporters listed in Annexure A must amend their PFMS bank details so payments can be processed and may approach the Assistant Commissioner, DBK & IGST Refund Section, Air Cargo Complex, Kolkata for assistance (telephone and email provided).

Condonation of delay in filing Form 10B: certain belated filings condoned; commissioners may admit other applications.
The Board, under section 119(2), directs that delays in furnishing Form 10B are condoned where the audit report was obtained before filing the return but furnished after filing and before the statutory due date; for other belated filings prior to the cutoff, Commissioners of Income-tax are empowered to admit condonation applications under section 119(2)(b) after being satisfied of reasonable cause, and to dispose of such applications by the prescribed administrative deadline.

Mutual funds participation in commodity derivatives allowed with governance, exposure caps, valuation and disclosure obligations.
Mutual funds are permitted to participate in exchange traded commodity derivatives (ETCDs) subject to exclusions for sensitive commodities, prohibition on holding physical goods except gold via Gold ETFs with a thirty day disposal requirement, prohibition on net short positions when combining physical and ETCD positions, scheme eligibility limited to specified hybrid schemes and Gold ETFs, requirement to treat participation as a change in fundamental attributes for existing schemes with a minimum thirty day exit option, AMC governance and valuation policies, investment exposure caps including cumulative limits for gold instruments, and specified disclosure and exchange implementation obligations.

Amendment of Form No. 10B requires updated audit certification and a detailed Annexure of particulars for trusts and institutions.
The proposed substitution of rule 17B and Form No. 10B requires trusts and institutions to furnish an updated audit report certifying that accounts give a true and fair view together with a signed Annexure of particulars. The Annexure mandates detailed disclosures on registration and legal status, objects and receipts (including business activities and foreign contributions), application and accumulation of income, investments and deposits, accounting policies, inadmissible amounts, tax deduction/collection compliance, and comprehensive related party and deemed use disclosures concerning specified persons.

Access to road or bridge service remains non-taxable despite third-party payment for tolls during the demonetisation period.
Access to a road or bridge on payment of toll charges is in the Negative List and not taxable. The service remained the same throughout the period 8-11-2016 to 1-12-2016; payment by the project authority instead of the user did not change the service. A declared service under section 66E does not override the Negative List to make such a service taxable.

Innovation sandbox enables controlled testing of fintech solutions with anonymized market data under strict eligibility and governance.
Creates an Innovation Sandbox providing phased access to historical, anonymized securities-market datasets via published APIs and virtual test environments; access is conditioned on confidentiality/end-user agreements prohibiting resale or sharing. Participation requires contractual acceptance of rights and obligations, cybersecurity compliance, and demonstrated testing readiness, need and post-testing strategy. A Steering Committee of MIIs and QRTAs will issue operating guidelines, evaluate and onboard applicants, monitor testing and maintain oversight; the sandbox lifecycle must transition to a fully digital process within a prescribed timeframe.