RCMC requirement clarified: not necessary for post-export remission schemes, enabling exporters to claim RoSCTL and RoDTEP.
Para 2.57 mandates a Registration Cum Membership Certificate (RCMC) for exporters seeking authorisations or FTP benefits tied to import/export authorisations, except restricted items. However, post export remission schemes such as Duty Drawback, RoSCTL and RoDTEP are exempt from the RCMC requirement; exporters may claim remission benefits under these schemes without obtaining an RCMC.

Regularization of IGST refund: payment of IGST and compensation cess with interest and reassessment permits refund relief.
Where inputs were initially imported under concessional customs notifications without payment of IGST and Compensation Cess, subsequent payment of IGST and Compensation Cess along with interest together with reassessment of the Bill of Entry by the jurisdictional Customs authority will mean that refund of IGST claimed on exports is not to be treated as contravening the bar in sub rule (10) of rule 96 of the WBGST Rules, in light of the retrospective Explanation clarifying that benefits are not deemed availed where IGST and Compensation Cess have been paid.

Place of supply: data hosting to overseas cloud providers is at the recipient, enabling export treatment.
Data hosting supplied by an Indian data centre operator to overseas cloud computing providers is not an intermediary service, not a service in relation to goods made available by the recipient, and not a supply directly related to immovable property. The bundled, operational nature of data hosting-ownership and independent operation of premises, hardware, software, power, connectivity and security-means the place of supply defaults to the recipient's location; where the recipient is outside India the supply may be treated as export of services subject to export eligibility conditions.

Input tax credit on demo vehicles allowed when used to promote further supply; blocked for staff transport or agency cases.
Demo vehicles used by authorised dealers to provide trial runs and demonstrate features promote sale of similar motor vehicles and therefore constitute use for "further supply of such motor vehicles," so ITC on those demo vehicles is not blocked under clause (a) of section 17(5). If such vehicles are used for staff transport or where the dealer acts only as a marketing agent and does not supply the vehicle on his own account, ITC remains blocked. Capitalisation does not bar ITC, but claiming depreciation on the tax component disallows ITC on that component and disposal of capitalised demo vehicles attracts output tax adjustments.

Place of supply of advertising services: principal-to-principal deals treat recipient abroad, enabling export classification under default rule.
Where an Indian advertising company contracts comprehensively with a foreign client and separately with media owners, it supplies services on its own account on a principal-to-principal basis and is not an intermediary; the recipient is the foreign client and the place of supply defaults to the recipient's location outside India, qualifying as export of services subject to export conditions. Conversely, where the agency merely facilitates a direct contract between foreign client and media owner and invoices only for facilitation, it is an intermediary and place of supply rules for intermediaries apply.

Special Economic Zone approvals: extensions, item permissions, land de notification and procedural compliance ordered for operational oversight.
The Board regularised and extended validity of Letters of Approval for SEZ units, directed DCs to investigate state level delays affecting LoAs, approved specified restricted refrigerants for IT/ITES SEZ operations and authorised export of certain sandalwood products subject to export only conditions and Customs checks, recommended partial de notification of SEZ land, deferred a revival and transfer proposal pending verification of dues and court approved revival alignment, permitted conversion of processing built up area to non processing under Rule 11B, and accepted surrender of a Formal Approval subject to No Objection.

GSTN portal mapping and de-mapping controls tightened to ensure immediate removal of relieved officers and accountability in supervision.
Systemic improvement is directed for mapping and de-mapping of officers on the GSTN portal to prevent continued portal access after an officer has been relieved from charge. The instruction requires immediate de-mapping on execution of the GFR-33, supervisory monitoring by senior officers, submission of compliance reports within the prescribed time, and clear responsibility and accountability of the officers concerned with mapping and un-mapping on the GSTN portal.

IGST refund regularization addresses exporters claiming refunds after duty-free input imports contrary to prescribed export refund conditions.
Regularization of IGST refunds claimed contrary to rule 96(10) concerns exporters who imported specified inputs without payment of integrated tax and compensation cess. The Central clarification applies mutatis mutandis under the Delhi GST framework to promote a uniform approach to regularization of the affected refunds.

Place of supply for bank custodial services to foreign portfolio investors follows the centrally clarified state GST approach.
Place of supply for custodial services provided by banks to Foreign Portfolio Investors is governed in Delhi under the clarification issued for corresponding central GST purposes, applied mutatis mutandis in implementing the Delhi GST Act, 2017. The clarification is intended to secure uniform application of the place-of-supply position under the State GST framework.

Place of supply: data hosting services to overseas cloud providers treated at recipient location, qualifying as export when conditions met.
Where an Indian data hosting provider supplies comprehensive data centre and hosting services to an overseas cloud computing provider, those services are not intermediary services, not supplied in relation to goods "made available" by the recipient, nor directly in relation to immovable property; accordingly the place of supply defaults to the location of the recipient, and if that recipient is outside India the supply can be treated as an export of services subject to other export conditions.

Input tax credit on demo vehicles permitted when used to promote further sale, disallowed for agency or staff transport.
ITC on demo vehicles with seating capacity not exceeding thirteen is blocked under clause (a) of section 17(5) except when used for further supply, transportation of passengers, or imparting driving training. Demo vehicles used by authorised dealers to promote and facilitate sale are treated as used for further supply and ITC is available; vehicles used for other purposes or acquired where the dealer acts only as an agent are excluded and ITC is not available. Capitalised demo vehicles qualify as capital goods and attract ITC subject to section 16(3) (no ITC if depreciation claimed on tax component) and adjustments on subsequent sale under section 18(6)/rule 44(6).

Place of supply rules: end-to-end advertising to foreign clients treated as export, intermediary treatment differs.
Where an Indian agency provides end-to-end advertising and contracts separately with media owners, it is not an intermediary, the recipient is the foreign client, the supply is not performance based under section 13(3), and the place of supply is the recipient's location under section 13(2), making the service exportable subject to section 2(6). If the agency only facilitates a direct contract between foreign client and media owner, the agency is an intermediary and place of supply for its facilitation services is the supplier's location under section 13(8)(b).

Non-resident guarantees prohibition: banks must ensure guarantees to resident Indian parties comply with FEMA restrictions and due diligence.
Non resident guarantees, including SBLCs and performance guarantees in favour of residents in India, are not permitted under FEMA; Category I Authorised Dealer banks must apply due diligence when advising or transmitting such guarantee contracts to resident constituents to ensure compliance with FEMA restrictions and to bring these requirements to the constituents' attention.

Relaxation of LODR disclosure obligations extended; entities must follow Master Circular conditions and regulatory provisions.
Extension of the temporary relaxation allowing listed entities not to send physical copies of financial statements and related documents for AGMs and to apply earlier relief on voting-related dispatch requirements for electronic general meetings is granted until September 30, 2025; entities must comply with paragraph 5.1 and 5.2 of section VI J of chapter VI of the Master Circular dated July 11, 2023, and note that the relaxations are issued under regulatory powers and remain subject to the Companies Act and applicable rules.

Principal auditor responsibility in group audits requires obtaining sufficient appropriate evidence, not blind reliance on component auditors.
Principal auditors in group audits bear primary responsibility for the audit opinion on consolidated and group financial statements and must obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence about component financial information rather than mechanically relying on component auditors. SA 600 must be read with SA 200 and other related Standards and the Companies Act, 2013 obligations. The frequent use of the word 'should' in SA 600 does not render its procedures discretionary; such provisions are presumptively mandatory and must be performed or otherwise justified and documented by alternative procedures.

High risk refund cases: investigation of email-linked clusters with sample-based verification and portal reporting for potential refund fraud.
High Risk Refund email-based clusters are disseminated to CRU Nodal Officers for allocation to Investigation Officers, who must initiate enquiries within seven days and complete investigations within three months using the Insight portal case type "High Risk Refund Cases-Inv." IOs apply a sample methodology (top 10% or top 10 claimants), attempt to identify the KEY PERSON via internal databases or statutory information requests delivered by registered post and email, call for documentary support from the KEY PERSON for 20-30% of the cluster, and then close cases, quantify income escapement for non-genuine claims, or mark unexamined ITRs as "Further Verification Required," with supervisory approvals and portal feedback required within four months.

High-Risk refund cases: JAOs must verify and give feedback within 30 days via the Insight portal.
JAOs must verify high risk refund ITRs received via the Insight portal and, within 30 days, submit either "ITR can be processed" or "Further risk assessment required." The latter feedback is required only where specified criteria are met, including recent disallowances confirmed on appeal, penalty orders for incorrect facts, repeated revised return refund increases, repeated high risk flags on the PAN, or CRIU/VRU information suggesting under reporting or disallowed deductions. If a revised return is filed for the relevant year, no further activities may be performed; when marking further assessment, the JAO must enter the refund at risk amount and provide mandatory remarks via Insight.

High risk refund cases: TAN-based clusters sent to TDS officers; AOs must verify and mark further risk or no risk.
TAN-based clusters of high-risk refund ITRs for AY 2024-25 are disseminated to CIT(TDS) for verification. AOs must allocate clusters, follow the SOP, examine historical risk flags and compliance indicators in Insight/TRACES, and submit mandatory feedback as either "No Further Risk Assessment required" or "Further risk assessment required" with remarks and supporting documents; presence of multiple historical flags, penalty/prosecution, repeated demands, or defaulter listing requires marking for further risk assessment.

Upfront option premium collection mandated; calendar-spread benefits revoked on expiry and intraday position monitoring strengthened.
SEBI requires upfront collection of options premium from buyers as part of initial margin, mandates separate margin treatment and withdrawal of calendar-spread benefits for contracts expiring on the same day, prescribes intra-day monitoring of position limits with random snapshots, increases tail-risk coverage for short options expiring that day, recalibrates minimum contract-size criteria for new index derivatives, and limits weekly expiries to one benchmark per exchange, with exchanges and clearing corporations directed to amend rules and systems for phased implementation.

Stress testing enhancements for equity derivatives mandate Stressed VaR, filtered historic simulation and factor-model based MRC determinations.
The circular adds three stress-testing methodologies-Stressed VaR (stress-period variance-covariance matrix, doubled volatility, Monte Carlo, 100% option volatility shock), Filtered Historic Simulation (EWMA =0.94 rescaling of historical returns), and a Factor Model (largest three-day NIFTY moves since 2000 scaled by stock beta with 100% option volatility shock)-to determine the MRC of the Core SGF for equity derivatives, mandates a 3-day SPOR, permits a conditional one-time inter-segment transfer of excess ECM funds and penalties to EDX, sets timelines for initial additional contributions and staggered ongoing contributions, and requires CCs to implement SOPs and disclosure and to categorize CCs for exposure modelling.