Election period preventive vigilance: mandatory seizure reporting and district upload into the CVIGIL system for prompt action.
The SOP requires Kolkata Customs Zone to implement election period preventive vigilance under CBIC Instruction No. 22/2023: nominate State, sub nodal and district nodal officers; operate a central Control Room and Response Teams; prevent diversion of liquor, cigarettes and contraband; and treat seizures that may induce voters as election seizures. Sub nodal officers must relay seizure information daily to district nodal officers, who are required to upload details into the CVIGIL application on the same day, following the prescribed district wise workflow and ECI directions.

Preventive vigilance to curb illicit cash and smuggled goods during elections, with mandatory reporting and nodal coordination.
CBIC field formations must step up preventive vigilance to stop unaccounted cash, non-monetary inducements and smuggled or illicit goods during elections; maintain surveillance over consignments, baggage, courier and cargo for abnormal large-volume shipments; and report daily seizures and significant developments to nominated Nodal Officers in the prescribed format, immediately notify major or highly sensitive incidents, and communicate the cost of goods linked to canvassing, with supervisory accountability for lapses.

Chartered Engineer Selection governs technical certification of imported used machinery, requiring expertise aligned with the goods' engineering class.
Imported second-hand, old and used machinery requires technical certification by a qualified Chartered Engineer competent in the engineering field related to the goods. Importers and Customs Brokers may select any empanelled Chartered Engineer with relevant specialisation or expertise for the class or type of imported goods. Determination of a machine's age is an engineering exercise requiring a qualified engineer, and selection should be exercised carefully to avoid rejection of certification.

Regulatory reporting by AIFs now requires an annual comprehensive SI Portal filing with reduced limited quarterly returns for streamlined compliance.
AIFs must submit a comprehensive Annual Activity Report on the SEBI Intermediary Portal within thirty calendar days of the financial year end, and a reduced Quarterly Activity Report in a revised format within fifteen calendar days of each quarter (excluding the March quarter, which is covered by the annual report). Revised reporting formats will be published by the AIF Standards Forum/industry association, which will assist AIFs in implementing the changed reporting requirements; the circular supersedes prior Master Circular provisions and is effective immediately.

Custodian governance and operational requirements strengthened: segregation of services, risk management, BCP and reporting streamlined.
SEBI prescribes that custodians (except banks or their affiliates) segregate SEBI-regulated activities into separate Strategic Business Units with arm's-length accounting and exclusion from net worth calculation, disclose and obtain client acknowledgement for unregulated services, and implement controls when sharing resources. Custodians must adopt board-level governance, an annually reviewed risk management policy with a designated senior risk officer and STR measures, maintain scalable IT capacity and a Business Continuity Plan with geographically or seismically separated DR sites, and implement orderly wind-down arrangements to ensure client portability.

Supply chain resilience group operationalised to monitor disruptions and coordinate mitigation with stakeholders and agencies.
Operationalisation of Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) for Supply Chain Resilience establishes a Department of Commerce coordination mechanism to monitor global developments affecting supply chains, assess sector-wise export and critical import vulnerabilities, facilitate inter-ministerial coordination, engage stakeholders including Export Promotion Councils, recommend mitigation measures, and receive reports of specific disruptions through a designated DGFT email for consolidation and monitoring.

Voluntary post-clearance Bill of Entry revision is enabled electronically, with risk-based review and refund workflow integration.
Voluntary post-clearance revision of Bills of Entry under Section 18A is available through the ICES module. Importers must submit requests on ICEGATE for amendment, deletion or addition of records. Requests undergo Risk Management System treatment and may be facilitated or referred to a Revision Officer, who may approve, query or reject them. Revisions resulting in refund claims are flagged for officer processing and, upon approval, automatically transferred to the Refund Officer under the existing refund workflow.

IEC hold prevents grant of Let Export Order until revoked by the site that inserted the hold.
ICES now includes an EXP_HOLD role allowing authorised officers to insert and revoke an IEC-level hold that blocks grant of Let Export Order for all shipping bills pending LEO; the system displays a prohibition message at LEO generation and records the inserting officer and site in SB Enquiry. A corresponding HOLDDRI role permits DRI holds. Revocation is limited to the site that inserted the hold, and holds from both field and DRI roles must be removed before LEO can be granted.

Automated Let Export Order enabled - system grants Auto LEO based on risk flag, streamlining export clearance.
Implementation of an Automated Let Export Order (Auto LEO) in ICES enables system-driven grant of LEOs based on a flag from NCTC that supersedes other treatment codes. After shipping bill submission and goods registration, ICES will grant Auto LEO and move the shipping bill to the EGM/stuff queue only if NCTC has selected the shipping bill for Auto LEO. The facility applies to facilitated shipping bills that are not selected for assessment/examination, require no PGA NOC, and have duty/cess paid where applicable.

Automated Out of Charge allows release of import consignments when risk-based clearance, assessment and duty payment conditions are satisfied.
Automated Out of Charge (Auto-OoC) is enabled for Bills of Entry assigned Auto-OoC treatment based on risk criteria, provided the BE is not selected for examination, scanning or PGA NOC, assessment is complete, and applicable duty is paid; any officer-imposed hold will override Auto-OoC.

Deferred import duty payment period extended to 30 days, with holidays excluded from due-date and interest calculations.
The deferred payment period for import duty is extended from fifteen days to thirty days for Bills of Entry filed on or after 1 March 2026. The enhanced system excludes public holidays, all Sundays and local notified holidays from due-date and interest calculations. System Managers must annually update local holidays via Holiday Management (ADN role) so the system correctly applies the exclusion. The Public Notice functions as a standing order for Kolkata Customs (Port) and stakeholders are instructed to publicise the change and report issues to EDI/ICEGATE contacts.

Supplementary IGM amendment under SCMTR extended to allow pre-entry amendments; stakeholders urged to test and adopt compliant messaging.
Continuation of the facility for filing Supplementary IGM amendment prior to grant of Entry Inwards under the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations is permitted until 31st March, 2026 to allow trade to test amendment scenarios and for activation of the BL Enquiry Module; stakeholders are advised to familiarise with SCMTR-compliant amendments, file messages for smooth clearance (notably Nepal & Bhutan transhipment cargo), and report implementation difficulties to the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner (EDI).

Deferred payment of customs duty extended to eligible manufacturer importers with portal registration and ICEGATE authentication.
The circular extends the deferred payment of Customs import duty to "Eligible Manufacturer Importer" (EMI) from 01.04.2026 until 31.03.2028, governed by the Deferred Payment of Import Duty Rules, 2016. EMIs must meet multi-part eligibility criteria (manufacturer/importer status or job-work arrangement; valid IEC; customs filing footprint; active GST registration with declared manufacturing where applicable; turnover threshold; two years' business continuity; GST compliance; no tax collected but not deposited; solvency certified by a Chartered Accountant; and absence of specified arrests, convictions or prosecutions). Applications are electronic on the AEO portal; approval by DIC, CBIC triggers ICEGATE-based nodal authentication and OTP-enabled Bill of Entry acknowledgement for deferred clearance; non-compliance may lead to suspension or revocation.

System-based cargo examination scheduling and Body Worn Camera recording strengthen transparency, traceability and controlled rescheduling for imported goods examinations.
Customs examination of imported goods will use system-based e-scheduling on ICEGATE 2.0 and Body Worn Cameras during physical examination. Recordings must cover critical examination stages and interactions, be securely retained for two years, and be preserved until final disposal in investigation, dispute or litigation matters. Importers, IEC holders and authorised Customs Brokers may electronically schedule, view and reschedule examinations, while automated notifications support officer allocation and custodial placement of goods. Any rescheduling, hold or removal from the schedule requires recorded and justifiable reasons by the competent officer.

Principal-place verification requires prompt field checks, registration correction or cancellation procedures, and post-verification compliance monitoring for undelivered correspondence.
Returned GST registration welcome letters indicating an incorrect, incomplete, or unverifiable address require prompt field verification of the declared principal and additional places of business. Officers must examine registration documents, verify possession and genuineness of the premises, obtain photographs and statements, and determine whether the taxpayer existed at the address when registration was obtained. Fictitious or unverifiable addresses require registration cancellation action through the prescribed procedure, while genuine taxpayers affected by address discrepancies must amend registration particulars. Verification reports must be submitted within thirty days, followed by compliance and input tax credit monitoring.

Independent third party review required for green debt securities to verify eligibility and be disclosed in offer documents.
SEBI requires issuers to appoint an independent third-party reviewer/ certifier to confirm that issuance of green debt securities meets the regulatory definition and to review processes including project evaluation, selection criteria and eligible project categories. The reviewer must be independent of the issuer and its management, remunerated to avoid conflicts of interest, and have expertise in ESG debt securities. The review scope must be set out in the offer document, reviewer details disclosed, and the external review may take forms such as Second Party Opinion, Verification, Certification, or Scoring/Rating per ICMA guidance.

Transshipment of cargo by rail to Nepal now governed by amended ECTS regulations, expanding eligible routes and procedural compliance.
The substituted application provision under the Electronic Cargo Tracking System defines the specific ports and multimodal routes covered for transshipment to Nepal: Kolkata and Haldia to Birgunj by rail; to Batnaha by rail with road onward to Biratnagar; direct rail to Biratnagar; and rail to Jogbani with road onward to Biratnagar. All other transshipment procedures remain governed by the ECTS Regulations as amended, with operational queries directed to the Nepal/Bhutan Unit at the port customs office.

Average Export Obligation reduction for EPCG authorizations where sector exports declined; regional offices to re-fix and endorse.
Regional Authorities must re-fix the Annual Average Export Obligation for EPCG authorisations for 2024-25 proportionate to sectoral export declines identified in the annexed table, endorse any EO reduction in the licence file and issue amendment sheets to authorisation holders. While considering EO discharge requests, Regional Offices must apply prior policy circulars before issuing demand notices or EODC, and include this stipulation in the EODC check-sheet.

Scheme Categorization: Mutual funds must align scheme names, investment characteristics and portfolio overlap limits to prescribed standards.
Mutual funds must classify schemes into Equity, Debt, Hybrid, Life Cycle and Other Schemes with specified minimum asset allocation thresholds, permitted residual investments, and uniform type-of-scheme descriptions; portfolio overlap limits, methodology for computing overlap, glide-paths for realignment, duration rules for debt schemes, lifecycle glide-path allocations and standardized Fund of Funds categories and nomenclature are mandated, and AMCs must modify scheme nomenclature, objectives and disclosures to comply within prescribed timelines and publish monthly overlap disclosures.

Valuation of physical gold and silver: mutual funds must use polled spot prices from recognised exchanges for domestic valuation.
Mutual funds shall value physical Gold and Silver by using the polled spot prices published by recognised stock exchanges used for settlement of physically delivered Gold and Silver derivatives contracts; the spot polling mechanism must comply with SEBI's spot polling guidelines and the valuation is subject to the investment valuation norms in the Seventh Schedule. This change takes effect from April 01, 2026 and AMFI, in consultation with SEBI, shall prescribe a uniform implementation policy.