Eligible Foreign Investor participation in commodity derivatives limited to non-agricultural, cash settled, foreign currency denominated contracts based on overseas settlement prices.
EFIs may participate in IFSC commodity derivatives only in non-agricultural commodities; contracts must be cash settled based on settlement prices determined on overseas exchanges; and all transactions must be denominated in foreign currency. Exchanges must amend bye laws, rules and regulations and notify members and publish the provisions on their websites to implement these conditions.

Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies introduced for garment exports, replacing prior rebate scheme with new rates.
RoSCTL for rebate of State and Central taxes and levies on garment and made ups exports was notified and came into effect on 7 March 2019; rebate rates under RoSCTL have been notified and the prior Rebate of State Levies (RoSL) scheme for garments and made ups has been discontinued from that date. Stakeholders are referred to the circular and ministry notification for details and may report implementation difficulties to the issuing office.

Preventive vigilance by CBIC: intensify checks, form mobile squads, share intelligence, and seize illicit cash and contraband during elections.
CBIC field formations are directed to enhance the preventive vigilance mechanism during the 17th Lok Sabha election period by intensifying checking, surveillance and targeted enforcement against illicit movement of currency, liquor, gold, fake currency, narcotics and other contraband; constituting mobile squads and special teams; tasking intelligence units to develop actionable information; maintaining strict vigil on domestic and cross border movements; sharing detection and seizure intelligence with other government agencies and election authorities in real time; and reporting detections and results to the Board daily.

Effective tribunal representation requires prior case preparation, coordinated State Representation, and structured review of revenue-significant appeals.
Effective representation before the Commercial Tax Tribunal requires prior study of hearing-listed cases, proper coordination among nominated officers, and continuity in State Representation. Where no regular State Representative is available, the senior-most and experienced Deputy Commissioner should be assigned long-term duty, and in revenue-significant matters the concerned Deputy Commissioner may also assist. Earlier headquarters instructions for zonal committee-based scrutiny of appeals, identification of legal issues, and preparation of written submissions are reiterated, with regular compliance and reporting to the Case Section.

IGST refund processing requires rectifying EGM, GSTIN and invoice mismatches to enable crediting to exporters' bank accounts.
Rectification of EGM, GSTIN, invoice number and Shipping Bill detail mismatches is required to enable processing of IGST refunds; exporters must ensure correct EGM filing before departure, submit reconciliatory documents and approach the IGST Refund Cell or Export Department Help Desk for corrections, with annexed lists of affected Shipping Bills provided for each error category.

GST taxpayer facilitation centre monitoring and issue redressal assigned through a designated officer and email mechanism.
Authorization is issued for monitoring the District Level Service/Facilitation Centre at Kar Bhavan, Agartala, and for handling the specified email-id so that GST-related issues raised by taxpayers can be received and resolved through the facilitation mechanism. The order is made in consequence of the transfer of the earlier Superintendent of Taxes and supersedes the previous order dated 05.01.2019.

Nature of supply of Priority Sector Lending Certificates clarified; states directed to adopt central circular for uniform GST treatment.
The Department of Revenue, Tax Research Unit issued a clarification on the GST characterisation of Priority Sector Lending Certificates (PSLC) to ensure consistent treatment across field formations; the Chief Commissioner of State Tax directs all state tax officers to follow that circular for uniform implementation in assessment, registration and other GST processes concerning PSLCs.

Online import licensing mandatory for restricted items; applicants must file via DGFT eCom with IEC and required approvals.
The DGFT requires mandatory online filing via the eCOM module for import licences for restricted items using the revised ANF 2M; applicants must authenticate by OTP, provide IEC (or listed permanent IEC where applicable), complete data fields, upload signed PDF documents, pay online and select the jurisdictional Regional Authority. Multiple items may be combined subject to a single Port of Registration which cannot be changed after licence issuance; imports through non EDI ports are prohibited. Applications must include mandatory category specific approvals and documents as listed.

Coastal carriage through foreign territory requires harmonised transit procedures, documentation, marking and sealing requirements to permit movement and verification.
Movement of coastal cargo through Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is allowed under a harmonised procedure using the Transportation of Goods (Through Foreign Territory) Regulations, 1965 with waiver of Bill of Coastal Goods filing for such transits; transit documents must include GSTIN or alternative tax identifiers and invoice references, containers and goods must be marked and sealed "For Coastal Carriage through foreign territory", masters require proper officer clearance and endorsed transit manifests, destination customs must verify discharge and seals, and tampering or discrepancies are subject to customs adjudication and applicable prohibitions.

Rebate of State and Central Taxes converted to RoSCTL, replacing RoSL and enabling MEIS type duty credit scrip issuance.
RoSCTL replaces the earlier RoSL scheme for garments and made ups, with notified rebate rates and an operative cutoff for processing RoSL claims. Administrative systems will be updated, and benefits under RoSCTL will be delivered as MEIS type duty credit scrips; detailed claiming, issuance and usage procedures are being finalised. Transitional claims filed under existing RoSL scheme codes will be treated as RoSCTL claims until the new procedures are in place.

Customs Compliance Verification enables pre payment registration and system based clearance upon CCV completion and subsequent duty payment.
Turant Customs enables importers or authorised persons to self register imported goods and supporting documents on ICEGATE pre payment; a system based Customs Compliance Verification will permit officers to complete statutory checks under Sections 17/18 and Section 47(1) while payment is pending, and upon CCV completion the automated system will grant clearance after duty payment, subject to RMS interdictions and agency alerts. ICES 1.5 also implements an automated FIFO OOC queue and CFS group mapping to route Bills of Entry to designated officers.

Deferred import duty payment deadlines updated, imposing mid month, month start and March end schedules for returned bills.
The amendment to rule 5 prescribes payment deadlines: duties on Bills of Entry returned in the first half of a month are payable by the 16th of that month; those returned in the latter half of any month other than March are payable by the first day of the next month; and those returned in the latter half of March are payable by the last day of March. The amendment takes effect on Gazette publication and non-compliance issues should be raised with the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner, Appraising Main (Import), NS-III. Compliance is a standing order for officers.

Rebate scheme transition: new RoSCTL replaces prior RoSL and converts claims into duty credit scrips.
The Ministry of Textiles has established the RoSCTL scheme effective 7 March 2019, replacing the prior RoSL scheme for garments and made-ups; RoSL claims will be processed only for shipping bills with LEO dates up to 6 March 2019. Benefits under RoSCTL will be administered as DGFT-issued duty credit scrips on the MEIS model; detailed claiming, issuance, and usage procedures are pending, and existing claims filed under RoSL scheme codes will be treated as RoSCTL claims during transition.

Customs Compliance Verification enables pre-payment goods registration and system clearance after duty payment via ICEGATE automated queuing.
Importers may self-register goods on ICEGATE before duty payment and upload electronic integrated declarations with digital signature. After registration the proper officer will perform Customs Compliance Verification and, upon recording CCV completion and subsequent payment of duty, the Customs Automated System will grant electronic clearance. RMS interdictions, agency alerts and local contingencies will continue to block electronic clearance. ICES 1.5 implements an automated FIFO queuing for Out of Charge processing and a CFS User Mapping to route Bills of Entry to designated officers, including a Facilitated CFS group for RMS-facilitated entries.

Electronic Data Interchange implementation centralises customs filings, digitises bills of entry and shipping bills enabling remote filing and digital signatures.
ICES 1.5 centralises electronic processing of Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills at ICD Dappar, mandating electronic filing via ICES or ICEGATE, service centre or remote submission with digital signatures, and registration of IE Codes, brokers, shipping lines and DGFT licences. The system standardises codes for currencies, units, countries and ports, automates valuation, duty calculation, appraising workflows, RMS risk routing, concurrent audit, bonds and licence ledgers, and integrates payment, refund and single window certificate exchanges to govern imports, exports, bond management and export incentive debits.

Settlement Commission enables conciliation-based resolution of customs and excise disputes through full and true disclosure applications to settle liabilities.
A Settlement Commission within the Department of Revenue offers a conciliation-focused forum for settlement of customs, central excise and applicable service tax disputes; assessees may apply by making full and true disclosure of undisclosed liabilities, their derivation, and particulars of goods or services, accepting additional duty or tax payable, to achieve expedited, balanced resolution and avoid prolonged adversarial litigation.

Egmont Protocol information exchange: centralised requisition procedure, confidentiality safeguards and mandatory feedback required for cross border financial intelligence.
Requisition under the Egmont Protocol requires Investigation Directorates to route requests through the CBDT Nodal Officer (Director/Deputy Secretary, Investigation IV) using the prescribed proforma in duplicate with hard and soft copies, jurisdiction specified, and signatures of the concerned ADIT/DDIT and authorising PCIT/PDIT (Inv.). Requests must supply complete factual and legal information, state purpose and urgency, and justify multi jurisdiction distribution. Information received under the MoU with FIU IND is strictly confidential, for need to know use only, not to be used as evidence or disclosed without consent, and feedback to FIU IND via CBDT is required.

Uniformity in GST implementation: Tripura mandates adherence to central corrigendum under section 168 for all tax officers.
Direction that all state tax officers must follow the Corrigendum to Central Circular No. 76/50/2018 GST, annexed to this communication, to ensure uniform implementation of GST provisions in Tripura, issued under the administrative powers of section 168 of the Tripura State Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

GST registration verification compliance tightened, with strict scrutiny of applications, premises surveys, and full adherence to headquarters circulars.
Registration verification under GST required strict scrutiny of all applications received after 1 November 2018, including survey of the declared business premises, in accordance with Headquarters circular instructions. The Commissioner noted substantial shortfall in verification activity and non-compliance by subordinate and supervisory officers with the verification regime. Detailed directions for cases where a firm is not found in existence or no business activity is found at the declared place of business were reiterated, and cent per cent compliance with the relevant circulars was directed to be ensured.

Cyber security framework clarified: "Technology Committee" replaces earlier term; exchanges must notify members and disseminate update.
The circular clarifies that the term "Internal Technology Committee" in the Cyber Security & Cyber Resilience framework for stock brokers and depository participants is replaced by "Technology Committee." Exchanges and depositories must notify their members of this substitution and disseminate the clarification on their websites; the circular is issued under the regulator's powers to protect investor interests and regulate the securities market.