Input tax credit reconciliation for cumulative periods requires reversal of excess credit and adherence to supplier upload eligibility.
Clarification: sub-rule (4) of rule 36 applies cumulatively for February-August, 2020 and reconciliation must be done against supplier-uploaded invoices available in GSTR-2A up to the due date of GSTR-1 for September, 2020. Cumulative ITC availed in GSTR-3B for those months must not exceed a prescribed percentage-based cap computed from uploaded eligible invoices; any excess ITC identified must be reversed in Table 4(B)(2) of the GSTR-3B for September, 2020, with the substantive entitlement limits under section 16 remaining applicable.

Caution-listing of exporters now requires AD bank recommendations to central bank regional offices when exporters face enforcement notices.
An exporter may be caution-listed by the Reserve Bank on recommendation of the AD bank to the Foreign Exchange Department Regional Office when the exporter has come to the adverse notice of enforcement agencies or is not traceable or is not making sincere efforts to realise export proceeds; AD banks also recommend de-caution-listing and the procedural treatment of shipping documents for caution-listed exporters remains unchanged.

Inter-scheme transfers restricted: allowed only for specified liquidity or rebalancing needs with strict compliance and documentation.
Guidelines limit Inter Scheme Transfers (ISTs) to narrow circumstances: for close ended schemes only within three business days post NFO; for open ended schemes to meet liquidity after exhausting cash, optional market borrowing, and market sales, or to rebalance duration/issuer/sector/group and cure regulatory breaches. ISTs must not involve securities with adverse media or internal credit alerts in the prior four months. Trustees and senior investment and compliance officers must ensure compliance, maintain prescribed templates and evidence, and address credit risk scheme misuse via incentive adjustment mechanisms; downgrades within four months require trustee justification from the buying fund manager.

Virtual meetings for InvITs and REITs extended through year-end; extraordinary unitholder meetings may be held via VC/OAVM.
The facility to conduct extraordinary unitholder meetings of InvITs and REITs through video conferencing or other audio visual means (VC/OAVM) is extended until December 31, 2020, provided entities comply with the procedure prescribed in Annexure I of the June 22, 2020 circular. The extension responds to pandemic related representations and is issued under the regulator's statutory powers and the relevant InvIT and REIT regulatory provisions.

Sea cargo manifest and transhipment filings now require phased electronic submissions, ICEGATE registration, CIN usage and mandatory timelines.
SCMTR, 2018 mandates advance electronic filing of sea arrival, departure and inland transhipment manifests and related declarations via ICEGATE by Authorised Sea Carriers/Agents, Authorised Carriers, and Authorised Transhippers; sets phased timelines (Annexure A) with transitional relief until 31 March 2021 and full mandatory compliance from 1 April 2021; prescribes use of Cargo Identification Numbers (PCIN/MCIN), timelines for amendments, bond and security requirements (with specified reductions and exemptions), and penalty exposure for non compliance.

Reduced interest and time limit extensions allow conditional delayed GST filings with waiver of late fees and extended deadlines.
Clarification directs uniform application of COVID 19 relief measures: extensions for composition filings and related statements, conditional nil or reduced interest and waiver of late fees for delayed GSTR 3B and GSTR 1 filings when returns are filed by specified extended dates, and extension of e way bill validity for bills expiring during the lockdown period.

Inspection of ICDs/CFSs/AFSs: annual inspections, reporting, and remedial action covering bonds, safety and hazardous goods handling.
The Board mandates an annual inspection regime for ICDs/CFSs/AFSs: jurisdictional Commissioners must prepare yearly action plans to have an officer (Deputy/Assistant Commissioner or above, not in-charge of the facility) inspect each facility and submit a prescribed proforma report to the jurisdictional Commissioner with copy to the Chief Commissioner. Initial inspections, if required, must cover up to five years or from commencement; inspections normally address the previous financial year. Jurisdictional Commissioners must take remedial measures, including penal action, where deficiencies are identified, and DG Performance Management will review inspection records during its field inspections.

Line of Credit supporting export-financed power project requires majority Indian sourcing and EDF declaration compliance.
Exim Bank's Government of India-supported Line of Credit to Zimbabwe finances repowering of Hwange Thermal Power Station and permits financing of eligible exports from India consistent with the Foreign Trade Policy. At least 75 per cent of contract value must be supplied from India; up to 25 per cent may be procured abroad. Shipments must be declared in the Export Declaration Form. No agency commission is payable under the LoC, though exporters may use their own funds or EEFC balances for commission remittance after realization, subject to extant instructions; AD Category I banks must notify exporters and facilitate compliance. Directions are issued under FEMA.

CFSs storing hazardous chemicals must obtain annual safety audits, report threshold exceedances, and file yearly safety reports.
All CFSs handling hazardous chemicals must obtain an annual safety audit by a competent safety auditor under Rule 10 of the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989 covering CBIC guidelines and relevant rules, file the previous calendar year's safety report in Jan-Mar, verify whether Schedule 2 threshold quantities were exceeded and, if so, confirm Rule 7 approval and compliance, or otherwise confirm an on-site emergency plan and communication mechanisms; the audit must also report hazardous goods stored over thirty days with arrival/clearance details.

System-selected container scanning: only RMS-chosen containers to be scanned and prioritised, officers barred from independent selection.
Examinations of export containers selected by the RMS must follow Mandatory Examination Instructions without deviation; only RMS-selected containers or those identified on specific intelligence may be scanned, with selected containers given top priority. Scanning shall be performed using mobile or fixed container scanners after moving containers from terminals, and physical examination of system-selected check packets shall occur at MICT CFS for MICT Terminal exports and at Exim yard for CT-I, CT-3 and CT-4 Terminal exports. The amended procedure is a standing order effective immediately.

Revision of Standard Input-Output Norms updates component entitlements and prescribes formula-based adjustments for laminate exports.
SIONs H-68, H-301 and H-302 amend component-wise import entitlements for decorative laminates, specifying per-square-metre quantities for kraft/base/barrier/tissue papers, phenol, melamine, paraformaldehyde/methanol and BOPP film against standard thickness/weight. A proportional adjustment formula AxB/C governs permitted import quantities for specified inputs when actual thickness or weight differs; certain items remain fixed irrespective of thickness. Applicable thickness ranges are set for single-side norms, and revisions reflect reduced phenol consumption and inclusion of lower GSMs to facilitate exports.

Issuance of AT1 instruments: mandatory electronic issuance, QIB only participation and enhanced disclosures to address investor risk.
Perpetual non cumulative preference shares and innovative/perpetual debt instruments, treated as Additional Tier 1 (AT1) instruments, are non equity regulatory capital instruments with issuer discretion to write down principal or interest, skip payments or recall early. SEBI mandates issuance via the Electronic Book Provider platform, restricts primary participation to Qualified Institutional Buyers, prescribes minimum allotment and trading lot thresholds, and requires enhanced disclosures including trustee consents, detailed instrument terms and a Point of Non Viability clause enabling regulatory write down.

TIR Carnet processing requires customs verification, voucher controls, electronic recording, and prescribed handling of transit, import and export goods.
TIR Carnet transport operates as an international customs-transit arrangement for goods carried without intermediate reloading across borders, with part of the journey by road. Import and export consignments remain subject to ordinary customs assessment, examination and filing requirements. Each country entry-and-exit operation uses a white entry voucher and green exit voucher, with counterfoils retained in the carnet. Officers verify carnet validity, manifest conformity, supporting customs documents, containers and seals; complete vouchers and counterfoils; retain the applicable voucher; maintain records; and enter prescribed particulars in the TIR EPD system.

Nodal Directorate designation for Customs Post Clearance Audit mandates centralized coordination with monthly and quarterly submissions required.
The Directorate General of Audit is designated as the Nodal Directorate for Customs Post Clearance Audit, consolidating oversight of TBA, ThBA and PBA and expanding its charter to coordinate implementation, update the audit manual, study compliance and recoveries, ensure audit quality assurance, coordinate auditor training, develop an Audit Module in ICES, create a dedicated internal vertical, report to the Member (Customs), and produce monthly and quarterly reports and a quarterly bulletin on audit performance and findings.

Mutual fund product labeling requires a six level Risk o meter, monthly disclosure and unitholder notification for changes.
The circular mandates depiction of a Risk-o-meter with six risk bands for mutual fund schemes, requires initial assignment at launch, monthly portfolio level evaluation and disclosure within ten days of month end, and scheme level annual reporting of risk and change frequency. Annexure A prescribes a numeric scoring methodology-credit, duration and liquidity metrics for debt; market capitalisation, volatility and impact cost for equity; specified rules for derivatives, REITs/InvITs, gold, foreign securities and fund-of-fund holdings-aggregated by AUM and mapped by thresholds to the six Risk-o-meter levels. Changes must be notified to unitholders and are not treated as fundamental attribute changes.

Dividend option disclosure: clarify that dividends may include return of capital from the equalization reserve, with segregation in statements.
Mutual fund dividend options must be renamed and disclosed to clarify that amounts paid under the dividend option can be distributed out of investors' capital (Equalization Reserve), representing realized gains in the sale price; AMCs must state this in offer documents and ensure consolidated account statements segregate income distribution (NAV appreciation) from capital distribution when distributable surplus is paid.

Listing timeline standardization for privately placed securities mandates prompt listing and penal consequences for delay.
Issuers must follow standardized timelines-closure at T, receipt of funds by T+2 trading day, and allotment with listing application by T+4 trading day-and depositories shall activate ISINs for privately placed debt securities only after stock exchange listing approval; new re issuances should be credited to a temporary frozen ISIN and moved to the existing ISIN upon listing approval.

Monitoring of foreign holdings in depository receipts ensures regulated issuance and daily headroom reporting by depositories.
Framework requires a listed company to appoint one Indian depository as the Designated Depository to compute, consolidate and disseminate ISIN-wise DR information. Domestic Custodians must provide initial and ongoing DR details, maintain underlying permissible securities in a prescribed demat sub type, and report approvals and utilisation for re issuance. Designated and Feed Depositories shall exchange daily investor wise holdings, consolidate outstanding permissible securities, calculate conversion headroom (original DRs less outstanding securities and unutilised re issuance approvals) and publish headroom on their websites.

Undertaking cum Indemnity bond deadline extended; exchanges may modify bond and must notify members accordingly.
Extension of the deadline for Trading Members and Clearing Members to submit the Undertaking cum Indemnity bond for all bank accounts by one month, with Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations required to obtain bank account lists, permit modification of the draft undertaking as needed, and notify and publish the revised requirements; issued under SEBI's regulatory authority to protect investor interests and regulate markets.

Relaxation in timelines extended for regulated market intermediaries, easing compliance deadlines for call recordings, KYC uploads, and cyber audits.
SEBI extended relaxation of timelines for specified compliance obligations of trading members, clearing members and related entities, covering maintenance of client order call recordings, upload of client KYC application forms and documents to the KRA system, and completion of the Cyber Security & Cyber Resilience Audit; Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations must notify members and publish the extensions, with other prior conditions remaining applicable.