Category II FPI investment: clarified eligibility, portfolio commonality, broad based investor requirements, and prohibition on segregated insurer portfolios.
Collective investment vehicles of private/merchant banks must comply with KYC and beneficial owner identification, exclude Resident Indian/NRI/OCI beneficial owners, avoid jurisdictions identified by FATF for deficiencies, prohibit opaque or bearer share structures, and maintain a broad based common portfolio (except for ODIs) with no investor exceeding forty nine percent; insurance/reinsurance companies must maintain undivided common portfolios and segregated structures are prohibited; other regulated Category II persons may invest proprietary funds and may invest client funds as ODI issuing FPIs or after meeting broad based and common portfolio conditions, with all FPI restrictions and due diligence requirements continuing to apply.

Deletion of handbook provision under foreign trade policy removes a Chapter provision and changes procedural obligations.
The Director General of Foreign Trade, exercising powers under paragraph 2.04 of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-2020, issues a public notice amending Chapter 2 of the Handbook of Procedure (2015-20) by deleting the provisions at Para 2.86; the notice effects the formal removal of that paragraph and removes any procedural obligations or references that depended solely on it.

Centralized refund processing for UIN entities: central authorities handle UIN refunds and procedural filing requirements govern claims.
UIN holders have special non-registered-person status to claim refunds on inward supplies, but must obtain GSTIN if making taxable supplies. UINs are applied for under Rule 17 via FORM GST REG-13 or through the Protocol Division where the portal form is unavailable; single UIN is optional and multiple or merged UINs must be accommodated. Refunds require filing FORM GSTR-11 for periods claimed and quarterly FORM RFD-10 with supporting certificates as per the governing notification; printed RFD-10s are submitted to jurisdictional Central Tax Commissionerates and processed centrally regardless of tax type or State.

Discontinuance of LoUs and LoCs for trade credits; banks may still issue letters of credit and bank guarantees under regulatory rules.
Discontinue issuance of Letters of Undertaking and Letters of Comfort by Authorised Dealer Category I banks for trade credits for imports with immediate effect; Letters of Credit and Bank Guarantees for trade credits may continue only subject to compliance with existing banking regulations on guarantees and co acceptances. Banks must inform their constituents and the Master Direction will be updated to reflect the change.

Jurisdictional transfer of customs export functions: centralized Export Promotion Division to manage bonds, duty free imports, bonded warehouses.
A centralized Export Promotion Division (EPD) at Chennai Customs IV will assume responsibility for customs functions previously handled by Central Excise/GST formations for EOUs, SEZs, STPs and EHTPs within the Chennai Customs Zone. Assigned tasks include acceptance and execution of B-17 bond/LUT (with LUT acceptance clarified to remain with Central Excise/GST officers), administration of duty free and concessional imports subject to end use conditions, bond enforcement and duty demand on default, licensing of bonded warehouses, issuance of EPCG installation certificates, and recovery of customs dues.

Mandatory electronic uploading of supporting documents may be imposed; customs brokers and filers advised to adopt e-SANCHIT.
Extension of the e-SANCHIT application requires electronic uploading of supporting documents at all EDI locations; the application is currently voluntary but may be made obligatory imminently. Customs brokers and ICEGATE self-filers are instructed to use e-SANCHIT regularly, and those who have not used it must begin filing bills of entry via the system. Stakeholders encountering implementation difficulties are to report them to the issuing office.

Brand Rate Fixation: special drive to clear pending drawback applications and submit requests to BRFC for disposal.
A special administrative drive requires prompt finalisation of pending applications for Brand Rate fixation of drawback at the Air Cargo Export Commissionerate, New Customs House, New Delhi. Exporters with Let Export Orders dated on or after 01.10.2017 must apply afresh; verification may be conducted by the customs formation having jurisdiction over the manufacturing factory. The Commissionerate initiated a time bound campaign to clear pendency older than one month by 30.04.2018 and requests exporters/CHAs to contact the office within ten days with required documents. A Brand Rate Fixation Cell (BRFC) has been formed with designated officers and contact details for processing cases.

Refund of Integrated Tax on zero rated supplies: guidance published and trade asked to report implementation difficulties.
Refund of Integrated Tax on zero rated supplies is addressed by directing traders to a published guidance flyer that sets out procedures for claiming IGST refunds for zero rated supplies; stakeholders facing practical difficulties are invited to notify the issuing office.

Gangavaram Port customs area extended by 35.50 acres, increasing jurisdiction to 752.65 acres for import/export operations.
In exercise of powers under section 8(b) of the Customs Act, 1962, the Commissioner of Customs, Visakhapatnam, has extended the notified customs area by including an additional 35.50 acres-described by enclosed drawing and coordinates-thereby increasing the total customs area to 752.65 acres to serve as a proper place for unloading imported goods and loading exported goods.

Seized property management: electronic workflows enable requests for retention, release, transfer and centralisation with approval controls.
Phase Four of the ITBA Investigation Module creates electronic workflows for management of items and proceedings recorded during Search and Survey: officers may initiate retention/ release requests for seized books/documents, transfer seized items between AOs with specific approval requirements for non jurisdictional transfers, and initiate adjustment/release of cash and other assets tied to PAN entries. The system routes workitems through investigative and supervisory officers for comments, approvals or rejections, generates required memos/letters, and updates PD account or strong room records; centralisation of cases and PAN transfer processes are similarly handled via routed approvals.

IGST refund processing intensified to clear pending export refund claims via a dedicated refund cell and stakeholder outreach.
Intensified processing of IGST refund claims for exports through a special administrative drive and a dedicated IGST Refund Cell at the Air Cargo Complex in Chennai, with named contact officers, telephone and email coordinates to assist exporters and facilitate resolution of processing obstacles transmitted via the customs portal.

IGST refund disbursement delays due to PFMS validation errors require ICEGATE registration and prescribed IFSC/account rectification.
IGST refund disbursements have failed where PFMS validation rejected payee bank/IFSC details; affected IECs are listed on the port website. IEC holders must register on ICEGATE to view PFMS Invalidated A/Cs and follow the step-by-step guide. Error codes TBE0001-TBE0007 and TBE0018 require contacting ICEGATE support; other errors require submitting prescribed documents (request letter, bank-verified account details, IEC, PAN; and NOCs where replacing accounts) to the EDI Section by e-mail for IFSC/account updation. A table of error codes specifies rectifications, including resubmission, bank corrections, or DG systems action.

Hedging of Commodity Price Risk permitted overseas using specified derivatives subject to bank safeguards and reporting requirements.
These Directions permit residents other than individuals to hedge commodity price risk and freight risk in overseas markets using permitted products (futures, forwards, vanilla options, swaps, and certain structured products), subject to bank verification of contracted or anticipated exposure, alignment of hedge quantity and tenor, board approved hedging policy, risk management capability, OTC counterparty jurisdictional acceptability, routing of payments through a special account, statutory auditor certification, corrective action reporting to the Reserve Bank, limited SBLC/guarantee use for margins, and quarterly reporting to the Reserve Bank.

GST Council set timelines for e Way Bills, deferred e Wallet and TDS/TCS, and tasked committees on return design.
The Council ratified specified notifications and circulars, amended Anti Profiteering Rules (notably Rule 134), designated GIC as the IT grievance committee with GSTN and CBEC system heads as invitees, set e Way Bill dates (inter State from 1 April 2018; staggered intra State rollout in April 2018), deferred IGST accounting and e Wallet implementation (to 1 October 2018), postponed TDS/TCS and reverse charge introduction to 1 July 2018 with a GoM to study reverse charge for composition taxpayers, and referred the new single monthly return design for further GoM/IT group consideration.

One-time default intimation for DPD importers fixes a default stacking code, waiving repeated advance notifications to shipping lines.
DPD importers at JNCH may submit a one time default intimation via CSLA to fix a default stacking code for all future FCL consignments; shipping lines and terminal operators must update records so those consignments are treated as DPD without repeated advance notifications. Exceptions require advance intimation for specific consignments. Customs broker submissions must include importer authorization and prescribed supporting documents, and correspondence will use declared email addresses with issues referred to the DPD Cell.

CFS gate module implementation requires main line operators to complete one-time authorization registration before mandatory cargo movement controls commence.
Implementation of the CFS Gate Module under ICES Version 1.5 for movement of containerized import cargo to Container Freight Stations was postponed to 18 March 2018. Main Line Operators were required to register one-time authorizations by 17 March 2018, with no further extension contemplated. Gate passes cannot be generated during truck movement from terminals to CFSs; instead, Preventive Officers must endorse prescribed vehicle, container, seal, gate pass, date and time particulars on the Cargo Movement Approval Order.

Refund of IGST on export claims: Saturday trading enabled to submit concordance tables to clear SB005 errors.
Refund of IGST on export consignments pending due to error code SB005 will be expedited by allowing exporters to submit concordance tables on Saturdays so Customs can immediately process those refund claims as a trade facilitation measure.

Refund of IGST on export: exporters must correct shipping-bill errors listed in annexure to enable speedy refund processing.
Refund of IGST on export under Rule 96 is addressed; the notice attaches Annexure A listing shipping bills filed at ICD Tughlakabad with GSTN integration error response codes and requests exporters to identify and rectify the errors per prior public notices so IGST refund claims may be processed speedily.

IGST refund on export invoice mismatches: officer interface allows customs verification and concordance submissions to process claims.
An alternative officer interface mechanism allows a Customs officer to verify GSTN and Customs EDI invoice data and sanction IGST refunds in cases flagged with error code SB005 where GSTR 1/Table 6A invoice details are correct despite discrepancies in Shipping Bills; exporters must submit a concordance table mapping GST invoices to Shipping Bill invoices (Annexure A) to the designated Assistant/Deputy Commissioner and refunds will be credited only electronically through PFMS. The facility applies to Shipping Bills filed up to 31 December 2017.

Bank guarantee self renewal requirement: unconditional self renewal language needed to avoid delays in warehousing bond extensions.
Submission of bank guarantees for extending warehousing bonds must include an unconditional Self Renewal Clause; guarantees containing a Written Claim Clause conditionally limiting bank liability contradict the self renewal requirement, causing processing delays, and trade participants are advised to submit guarantees with proper unconditional self renewal wording.