GST rate on irrigation system parts: laterals and parts classifiable under irrigation heading attract specified rate when supplied separately.
Laterals and parts suitable for use solely or principally with sprinklers or drip irrigation systems that are classifiable under the HSN heading covering sprinklers/drip irrigation shall attract the GST rate provided for those goods even if supplied separately; parts of general use classifiable outside that heading shall attract the rate applicable to their respective headings.

Government loan guarantee exemption confirmed: guarantees to state undertakings and PSUs are GST exempt as clarified.
Services supplied by the Central, State or Union Territory governments to their undertakings or Public Sector Undertakings by way of guaranteeing loans taken from banking companies and financial institutions are exempt under Entry No. 34A of Notification No. 12/2017-(Rate). The Circular reiterates the GST Council's recommendation confirming this exemption, states it is clarificatory and not an interpretation of the Act or rules, and notes a deemed effective date with invitation to report implementation difficulties.

Composite supply exemption for milling to state governments applies if goods value is one quarter or less; otherwise job work rate applies.
Supply of milling and fortification of wheat or paddy to State Governments for PDS qualifies for exemption under entry No. 3A where the supply is a composite supply and the value of goods in that composite supply does not exceed 25 percent of the total value; if the goods' value exceeds that threshold, the activity is treated as job work supplied to a registered person and subject to the concessional job work GST rate, with persons registered only for tax deduction also regarded as registered persons.

GST rate on construction for government entities: commercially purposed projects like ropeways do not qualify for concessional classification.
Entry No. 3(vi) grants a concessional rate for composite works contracts to government bodies only where civil structures are meant predominantly for non-commercial use. Projects like ropeways for tourism are commercial in purpose and thus do not qualify under entry No. 3(vi); they must be classified under the general works contract entry attracting the standard higher rate in the notification. The circular is clarificatory in nature.

Educational institution exemption covers examination services by Boards, while accreditation and registration services remain taxable under GST.
GST is exempt on services supplied by Central and State Educational Boards, including bodies such as the National Board of Examination, when they conduct examinations for students, including entrance examinations for admission to educational institutions. The exemption also extends to input services relating to admission to, or conduct of, examinations when provided to such Boards, including online testing services, result publication, printing of examination notifications, admit cards and question papers. Other services, such as accreditation of institutions or professionals, remain taxable at 18%.

GST exemption for road access on annuity does not extend to road construction payments.
GST exemption for road-related services applies to access to a road or bridge on payment of toll or annuity, under the transport-supporting services heading. Construction of roads falls under general construction services and is not covered by that exemption, even where consideration is partly paid upfront and partly through deferred annual instalments described as annuity. Annuity payments linked to road construction are therefore not exempt from GST under the cited exemption entry.

GST exemption for catering to educational institutions extends to food served in schools and Anganwadis regardless of funding source.
Services provided to an educational institution by way of catering, including mid-day meals, are exempt from GST. The exemption extends to food supplied in schools and pre-schools, and Anganwadis are covered as educational institutions because they provide pre-school non-formal education. This applies irrespective of funding from government grants or corporate donations, and includes food served in Anganwadis and schools under the stated exemption entry.

Investment Adviser administration and supervision: mandatory IAASB membership and prescribed reporting and fee compliance required.
SEBI has designated an Investment Adviser Administration and Supervisory Body (IAASB) to administer and supervise registered Investment Advisers, assigning it duties including on-site and off-site supervision, grievance redressal, administrative actions, monitoring and submission of periodical reports, and database maintenance; the IAASB board must be chaired by a Public Interest Director and include investor representation, while SEBI retains concurrent supervision and will inspect the IAASB. Registered Investment Advisers must join the IAASB and follow IAASB-prescribed membership, fee payment and reporting procedures to keep their registrations in force.

Interest Rate Swap hedging permitted with notional limited to assets hedged; single counterparty limits apply, except for CCP cleared trades.
Mutual funds may enter into plain vanilla Interest Rate Swaps (IRS) for hedging, with swap notional not to exceed the value of the assets being hedged. For OTC IRS, counterparties must be regulated market makers and exposure to a single counterparty is subject to a single-counterparty exposure cap. If IRS are transacted via an electronic trading platform where a clearing corporation acts as central counterparty guaranteeing settlement, the single-counterparty cap does not apply.

Revocation of GST registration cancellation: late applications may receive recorded-reason extensions through manual processing until portal functionality becomes available.
FORM GST REG-21 for revocation of cancellation of GST registration must ordinarily be filed within 30 days of service of the cancellation order. On sufficient cause and recorded reasons, the Additional Commissioner may extend the period by up to 30 days and the Commissioner may grant a further extension of up to 30 days. Until portal functionality is available, late applicants must request extension by letter or email through the proper officer, who forwards the matter to the competent authority for decision.

Zero-rated supply refund filing errors receive extended portal access where exports were reported in the wrong return table.
Recipients of deemed export supplies may avail input tax credit while claiming refund, provided the equivalent claim is debited from the electronic credit ledger. Their undertaking must confine the claim to invoices reported in Statement 5B, limit it to input tax credit availed in the valid return, and confirm that the supplier has not claimed refund. Supplier claims continue to require the recipient's undertaking not to claim refund or avail input tax credit.

GST classification of irrigation parts: components solely for sprinklers or drip systems follow the system's GST rate.
Laterals and parts that are suitable for use solely or principally with sprinklers or drip irrigation systems and classifiable with those systems under the HSN Notes attract the GST rate applicable to the sprinkler/drip irrigation grouping; parts of general use that classify elsewhere will attract the GST of their respective headings.

Government loan guarantee exemption under GST confirmed for services supplied to undertakings and public sector undertakings.
The document reiterates that services supplied by Central or State Government to their undertakings or Public Sector Undertakings by way of guaranteeing loans from banking companies and financial institutions are specifically exempt from GST under the exemption entry covering government-provided loan guarantees, and invites reporting of any implementation difficulties to the Board.

GST exemption on composite supply: milling for PDS eligible if goods value within threshold; otherwise taxable at concessional job work rate.
Milling with fortification supplied to State Governments for PDS is exempt under entry No. 3A if the value of goods in the composite supply does not exceed 25% of the total value; otherwise, when supplied to a registered person as job work, it is chargeable at the concessional job work GST rate. A person registered only for deduction under section 51 is also a registered person for the concessional rate.

Tax classification for ropeway construction to government entities: treated as general works contract, not concessional entry.
Entry No. 3(vi) applies to a composite supply of works contract for civil structures meant predominantly for non commercial use and provided to government bodies; the explanatory note excluding government activities as public authorities does not extend to Governmental Authority or Government Entity. Ropeway construction for tourism is treated as a civil construction with a predominant commercial purpose and is not covered by entries for roads, bridges, terminals, or railways. Therefore, works contract services for ropeway construction supplied to a Government Entity fall under the general works contract classification for other constructions and not under the concessional entry.

GST exemption on board-conducted examinations confirmed, and input services for examinations exempt; accreditation and registration services taxable.
Services by Central or State Boards, including conduct of examinations and related input services (online testing, result publication, printing of notifications, admit cards and question papers) supplied to the Boards are exempt from GST, and fees for such examinations are not taxable. Other services by these Boards, notably accreditation, registration or authorisation services provided to institutions or professionals, are taxable at the applicable GST rate.

GST exemption for road access does not extend to annuities paid for road construction, which remain taxable as construction services.
Access-related services remunerated by toll or annuity are exempt as supporting transport services, but the exemption is limited to that category and does not apply to general construction services; deferred annuity payments made for construction of roads are not exempt under Entry 23A and remain subject to GST.

Exemption for catering services to educational institutions: GST not leviable even when meals are funded by grants or donations.
Entry 66(b)(ii) of Notification No. 12/2017 exempts catering services to educational institutions, including mid-day meal schemes, and the definition covers pre-school institutions such as Anganwadis; therefore serving of food to schools and Anganwadis is exempt from GST irrespective of funding by government grants or corporate donations.

Amendment to List of Nominated Agencies: inclusion of Diamond India Ltd registered and branch offices in Appendix for FTP recognition.
Amendment to the List of Nominated Agencies under the Foreign Trade Policy adds M/s Diamond India Limited to Appendix 4B, specifying its registered office in Mumbai and branch addresses in multiple States with corresponding GSTINs. The Director General of Foreign Trade has ordered the inclusion with immediate effect, updating Appendix 4B to reflect these registered and branch office entries for official recognition under the FTP.

Reporting under Liberalised Remittance Scheme: authorised dealer banks must submit monthly remittance data via XBRL by the fifth following month.
AD Category I banks must report monthly Liberalised Remittance Scheme data via the XBRL system (replacing ORFS), uploading required information by the fifth day of the succeeding month from the July 1, 2021 cycle; user IDs will be provided and 'nil' should be uploaded if no data exists. The direction is issued under FEMA and without prejudice to other legal permissions.