System generated examination orders for faceless assessment standardize container and item level inspections and limit discretionary additions.
RMS will centrally generate consolidated, standardized examination orders for each risk selected Bill of Entry, specifying selected containers, designated container areas/parts, percentage or item level instructions, and additional examination directives. Assessing officers may view and, only in exceptional cases with approval, supplement these pre populated orders; shed/examining officers must follow RMS instructions, record any approved deviations in the system, and coordinate with Container Scanning Division instructions where applicable.

Karta succession in HUF: upon death the new Karta replaces the deceased in the demat beneficial owner account.
The circular mandates that upon the death of a HUF Karta, the deceased Karta's name in the Beneficial Owner account shall be replaced by the new Karta, who shall be the eldest coparcener or a coparcener appointed as Karta by agreement among all coparceners. Depositories must amend bye-laws, effect system changes, publish the circular on their websites and report implementation status in their Monthly Development Report; other provisions of the referenced Master Circular remain unchanged.

Limits on related party investments require client consent and disclosure, with rebalancing and credit rating restrictions for portfolio managers
SEBI requires Portfolio Managers to comply with prudential ceilings on direct investments in securities of their associates/related parties, obtain one time prior positive consent from clients (allowing dissent or lower limits), rebalance portfolios within 90 days after passive breaches unless waived by client consent, restrict investments in below investment grade debt/hybrid securities (with narrower exceptions for non discretionary managers), and provide detailed disclosures and updates in periodic reports and the Disclosure Document.

Preferential issue pricing for REITs tightened to higher VWAP benchmarks and faster listing or refund remedies.
Post-allotment units must be listed within two working days; if not listed, monies must be refunded through verifiable means within four working days and unpaid amounts become jointly and severally repayable by the REIT, its manager and defaulting officer with specified interest. Pricing for frequently traded units requires application of prescribed volume weighted average price benchmarks, and institutional placements to a capped number of institutional investors must meet the shorter-term VWAP floor. Preferential allotment is barred to persons who sold units during the pre-relevant-date period, with a specific exception for consideration in asset acquisitions.

Preferential issue pricing for InvITs now tied to VWAP benchmarks and stricter listing and refund liabilities.
The circular amends preferential issue and institutional placement rules for listed InvITs: units must be listed within two working days post-allotment or monies refunded within four working days with joint and several liability for repayment and interest; pricing for preferential issues is tied to volume-weighted average price benchmarks for frequently traded units and for limited institutional placements; definitions of relevant date, relevant stock exchange and frequently traded units are specified; and sponsors who transacted in the prescribed period are ineligible for preferential allotment except when units are issued as full consideration for asset acquisition.

Associate disclosure requirement: AMCs must publish ISIN-wise holdings and AUM percentage for excluded entities each quarter.
SEBI requires AMCs to disclose, within one month of each quarter-end, ISIN-wise value and percentage of AUM for scheme-wise investments in entities excluded from the revised definition of associate, to be published on the AMC and AMFI websites.

Enhanced disclosure obligations require CRAs to standardize sharp-rating reports, formalize non-cooperation rules and publish machine-readable transparency.
CRAs must treat a downgrade of three or more notches between two consecutive rating actions as a sharp rating action and disclose such events including and excluding non-cooperative issuers; adopt detailed INC policies with three consecutive months of non-submission of No-Default Statements as grounds to tag ratings as INC (to be tagged within seven days) while retaining earlier migration discretion; assign ratings in withdrawal press releases except in limited exceptions; permit withdrawal of perpetual debt ratings subject to continuous rating and undertakings from issuer and other CRAs; publish rating transition matrices both excluding and including withdrawn/INC ratings (with withdrawn proportions) and provide machine-readable disclosures with a ten-year archive and separate cumulative default rates including/excluding INCs.

Section 161 appeals: accept manual appeals when rectification requests are rejected, until online filing arrangement is available.
Where a Proper Officer rejects a rectification or amendment application under the GST rectification regime and the online portal does not permit filing the resultant appeal, appellate authorities are instructed to accept manual appeals until an online filing arrangement is made available.

GST rate classification: multiple service categories clarified, regularising past collections and specifying exemption and reverse charge treatment.
Clarifications addressing GST classification, exemptions and rates for varied services: ice cream parlours' past low rate collections without input tax credit are regularised as fully paid with future supplies subject to the standard rate with input tax credit; educational institution fees for entrance, application, eligibility and migration certificates are exempt as services to students; storage of ginned or baled cotton was within the raw vegetable fibre exemption prior to its withdrawal; transit cargo services to and from Nepal and Bhutan, including return of empty containers, are exempt subject to customs transit regulations and track and trace compliance; renting of vehicles with operators is treated as rental services (not goods transport) and taxed accordingly; sale of developed land is not taxable though development services are; assisted reproductive technology services qualify as exempt health care services; and corporate reverse charge liability applies where vehicles are hired for periods with operational control.

Consideration for contractual obligation: GST applies when payment is for agreeing to do, refrain from, or tolerate an act.
GST attaches only where payment constitutes consideration for a supply - an express or implied agreement by which one party agrees to do, refrain from, or tolerate an act in return for payment. Payments that are merely compensation for breach, statutory or deterrent penalties, cheque dishonour fines, and forfeiture of earnest money or bond recoveries do not constitute consideration for tolerating or refraining and are not taxable. By contrast, charges that are consideration for ancillary facilities bundled with a principal taxable supply (e.g., cancellation fees, late payment charges, early termination or prepayment penalties) are taxable and assessed as part of the principal supply; exempt principal supplies render such ancillary charges non taxable.

Certificate of Origin authorization: Panipat Exporters Association authorized to issue non preferential certificates under FTP policy.
Panipat Exporters Association is authorized under paragraph 2.04 of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020 to issue Certificate of Origin (Non Preferential) and is added at Serial No. 5 (Haryana) of Appendix 2E in the Appendices & Aayat Niryat Forms of the FTP, with agency contact details provided for issuance and correspondence.

Compounding of customs offenses: verification limited to full disclosure and targeted immunity added for specified offense.
The compounding authority's satisfaction is confined to verification that the applicant has made full and true disclosure. The amendment makes the offense under section 135AA compoundable and mandates immunity where that offense alone is involved. Principal Chief/Chief Commissioners must run periodic outreach to increase use of compounding, and the Director General, Data Management must report each Zone's receipt, timely disposal of compounding applications (including disposal within six months) and the sums realized as compounding amounts.

GST classification clarified: key goods including electric vehicles and processed food forms allocated specific GST rates and classifications.
Electrically operated vehicles that run solely on electrical energy are classifiable under HSN 8703 and attract 5% GST even if batteries are not fitted at the time of supply; similarly, Napa and minor-polished calcareous building stones qualify for the concessional rate, fresh mangoes are exempt while non-sliced dried forms including pulp attract the higher rate, treated sewage water is GST exempt under heading 2201, nicotine polacrilex gum for cessation is classifiable under oral nicotine products at 18%, the 90% fly ash content condition applies only to aggregates not bricks, and pulse-milling by-products used as cattle feed attract 5% GST with past periods regularised on an as-is basis.

Bogus Input Tax Credit cases require priority action, updated reporting, and officer accountability under the Enforcement Alert Module.
Input Tax Credit claimed on invoices issued without actual supply of goods is treated as inadmissible, and cases identified through the Enforcement Alert Module are to be acted upon at the divisional level on a priority and time-bound basis. Updated action reports are required for the top 20 cases involving the highest ITC available under the Successive GSTIN Zone Wise menu of the Enforcement Alert Module, with responsibility to be fixed where timely action has not been initiated or completed.

Overseas investment regime clarified: new rules streamline permissions, reporting and introduce late submission fee for delays.
The Directions operationalise the new Overseas Investment regime, replacing JV/WOS with the concepts of foreign entity and Indian entity, introducing strategic sector exceptions, and clarifying ODI/OPI definitions. They streamline permissions by widening the automatic route and dispensing with approvals for specified transactions, set procedures and documentation obligations for approval route cases via designated AD banks and online reporting (Form FC/ODI/OPI) with UIN allotment, define aggregation and treatment of financial commitments (including guarantees, pledges and ECB/EEFC/ADR/GDR reckoning), and establish reporting, compliance and Late Submission Fee rules with penalties and restrictions on further remittances until regularisation.

Account Aggregator framework requires Financial Information Providers to share customer financial data only on valid consent artefacts with digital signing.
FIPs in the securities markets must share specified financial information only upon receipt and verification of a valid electronic consent artefact from the customer via an AA, digitally sign and transmit that information in real time, implement interfaces to authenticate consent artefacts, verify digital signatures, maintain logs of sharing requests and adopt published technical specifications and IT safeguards to ensure secure, scalable data flows to AAs.

Block mechanism mandatory for Early Pay-In transactions, requiring depositories and exchanges to implement systems and notify members.
The circular mandates the block mechanism as compulsory for all Early Pay-In transactions effective November 14, 2022, requiring Depositories, Clearing Corporations and Stock Exchanges to put in place systems to ensure compliance and to notify members, amend bye-laws, and report implementation status to SEBI.

Display Assembly imports with only display components ( back support) attract 10% BCD; assemblies with extra parts attract 15% BCD.
Concessional BCD treatment: a Display Assembly comprising touch panel, cover glass, brightness enhancement film, indicator guide light, reflector, LED backlight, polarizers, LCD driver on FPC, FPCs for display, and LCM/OLED module-whether or not fitted with a metal/plastic back support frame only for structural support-qualifies as a Display Assembly attracting a BCD rate of 10%. If the display assembly is imported together with additional functional parts or subassemblies (e.g., mechanics, sim tray, antenna pin, speaker net, keys, battery compartment, or extra FPCs), the whole assembly is classifiable as general parts and attracts a BCD rate of 15%.

Overseas investment eligibility for AIFs/VCFs: new jurisdictional, due diligence and reporting requirements govern permissible investments.
AIFs/VCFs must apply for allocation of an overseas investment limit using the prescribed format and submit trustee/manager undertakings; investments are permitted only in overseas investees incorporated in jurisdictions whose securities regulator is an IOSCO MMoU signatory or has a bilateral MoU, and are prohibited in jurisdictions identified by FATF for strategic AML/CFT deficiencies; transfers may be made only to entities eligible under FEMA/RBI rules, liquidation proceeds are available for reinvestment across funds, and specified reporting of investments and divestments to the regulator is mandatory within prescribed timelines.

Re-export drawback claims require complete documentation, timely deficiency compliance, registration, and verification before customs-duty repayment processing.
Drawback claims on re-export of imported goods require prescribed import and export records, duty-payment evidence, declarations or GST certification where relevant, and a notarised affidavit. Incomplete claims must be returned with a deficiency memo within fifteen days; compliant claims are acknowledged and registered. Failure to rectify deficiencies within the applicable period makes the claim time-barred. Registered claims require verification that no prior refund, pending audit objection, or recoverable confirmed demand exists against the claimant or import entry.