Possession of specified Indian currency notes prohibited in Nepal; travellers must carry valid ID and comply with vehicle import rules.
Possession of certain Indian currency notes is prohibited in Nepal and may be punishable; Indian travellers should carry valid identity documents (passport, government photo ID, voter ID, or driving licence). Indian vehicles must present original Registration Certificate, Insurance documents and Driving Licence, pay temporary importation duty and taxes at first entry, obtain receipts and a temporary registration number plate, and display it at subsequent check posts. Do not carry arms and ammunition. Officials are to publicise the advisory at airports and Land Customs Stations and provide consular contact numbers for assistance.

Export realisation timeline extended for specified jurisdictions; exporters must thereafter realise full proceeds within the prescribed period.
The Reserve Bank authorised a one year extension of the temporary facility permitting exporters to the listed jurisdictions to realise and repatriate full export proceeds within 360 days of shipment; authorised dealers must inform constituents. After the extension period, exporters must realise full proceeds within the standard six month period. The directions are issued under Section 10(4) and Section 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, and the annexure lists the jurisdictions covered by the temporary facility.

Taxation of dividends shifted to recipients, reviving TDS and restructuring related compliance obligations.
The Finance Act, 2002 extensively amends direct tax law: it revises rate structures and surcharge mechanics, withdraws and narrows numerous exemptions, clarifies the definition of person, brings casual receipts within the tax net, tightens capital gains valuation for immovable property, refines transfer pricing rules (including a Transfer Pricing Officer mechanism and price tolerance), introduces additional depreciation incentives, reworks MAT and shipping relief, strengthens search and seizure and electronic records access (with penal sanctions), revives and expands TDS obligations (including on dividends and mutual fund distributions), and modifies compliance, assessment and penalty procedures with detailed effective date and transitional provisions.

Wrong availment of drawback disallowed: exporters must not claim drawback for inputs imported duty-free under a customs notification.
Drawback is payable only where inputs have borne customs or excise duty; inputs imported duty-free under Customs Notification No. 32/97 disentitle the exporter to drawback or DEPB. Customs must verify import records when processing shipping bills, require declaration on the shipping bill of materials imported duty-free under that notification with details, and examine records to report cases of simultaneous wrongful availment for further action.

Transfer of tax cases: central ban lifted, now allowing intra-departmental reassignments without prior Board approval.
Ban on inter-officer transfer of income-tax cases is withdrawn with immediate effect, removing the prior-Board-approval requirement. The prohibition had been imposed for computerisation and PAN allotment and extended during departmental restructuring; it is now considered unnecessary, restoring routine administrative authority for reassigning cases between Assessing Officers.

Direct uploading of FII data by custodians requires registration, fee and scheduled electronic daily uploads.
Custodians must register and pay a one time fee of Rs. 25,000 to obtain electronic filing access; the registration records custodian and data loading officer details and requires a confidentiality declaration for credentials. Daily FII investment data are to be uploaded from custodian sites on working days between 10:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M., with uploads permitted on SEBI holidays if the market/custodian is open. Technical instructions mandate Citrix access to SEBI's extranet, use of two files named in DTR/DTS date formats on removable media, entry of the reporting date, and procedures to view, correct and reload error records.

Applicability of penal interest provisions restricted to post-amendment clearances under Central Excise law, narrowing retrospective reach.
Whether interest under Section 11AB applies retrospectively was disputed: the Department and Solicitor General treated duty as payable on adjudication so the provision would govern adjudications on or after 28.9.1996; CEGAT rejected this as penal and limited applicability to clearances after 28.9.1996, a view left intact by higher courts. Amendment w.e.f. 11.5.2001 clarifies that the provision applies only where duty became payable or ought to have been paid after 11.5.2001, and that duty can become payable by Board instructions as well as adjudication.

Extension of filing deadline for DEPB endorsements, plus modified metal fineness requirements and inspection agency listings.
The notice extends the period for re submission and endorsement of DEPBs relating to shipments with prior "Let Export" orders, allows licence holders to apply for endorsements using counter assistance, and requires licensing authorities to process such requests promptly. It also extends the filing deadline for applications for actual user and transferable DEPBs for those shipments. Additionally, nominated agencies' metal release fineness standards are specified, an internal paragraph reference in Chapter 8 is corrected, and Appendix 28's list of inspection and certification agencies is amended.

Section 80-IA infrastructure benefit continues for projects notified before cutoff, subject to prior eligibility conditions.
Projects with agreements executed on or after 1-4-1995 and on or before 31-3-2001 that were notified by the Board on or before 31-3-2001 continue to be eligible for the income-tax benefit under the pre-amendment definition of infrastructure facility, and remain exempt provided they fulfil the eligibility conditions that existed under the prior wording of the provision.

DEPB verification procedure tightened: authorised registration, computerised debits, and direct credit transfers required for third party use.
The notice prescribes a controlled verification regime for DEPB scrip: only the holder, authorised employee or authorised CHA may submit scrips; authorised persons must obtain a registration number via a holder issued certificate recorded in a register. Examiners must verify shipment details against computer/EGM data, appraisers and an Assistant Commissioner must countersign, and verified scrips are registered in the computer with the registration number endorsed and returned on a fixed third day schedule. DEPB debits are to be made on the computer, and exemptions for non holders are allowed only where a specific amount of credit is directly transferred by the DEPB holder.

Confidentiality of client information: exchanges must enforce non disclosure by employees and members, with penalties for breaches.
Exchanges must reinforce employee and member obligations to maintain confidentiality of client information and prevent leakage of trade data, using ticker messages and circulars; confidentiality is required by the client broker agreement and clause (3) of Para B of Schedule II (Code of Conduct) of the stock broker regulations, and breaches may attract regulatory penalties.

Rounding off NAVs: prescribed decimal precision for NAV reporting, distinguishing debt/index and equity/balanced schemes.
Mutual funds must round Net Asset Values to four decimal places for index funds and debt oriented schemes, and to two decimal places for equity oriented and balanced schemes, with equity and balanced schemes permitted to use greater precision if desired; these rounding conventions apply to existing and new schemes and must be implemented by the prescribed deadline under the mutual funds regulations cited in the circular.

DEPB rate amendments revise export entitlement rates and adjust value caps, including deletions of specified tariff entries.
Amendments revise the Schedule of DEPB Rates by changing DEPB rates and value caps for specified engineering products (Product Group 61), deleting two DEPB entries (S. Nos. 493 and 494), and correcting the DEPB rate and value cap for Roxarsone in Product Group 62 to update export entitlement calculations.

Service Tax accounting heads allocated for newly taxable services; field formations must be notified and a trade notice issued.
Allocation of Major/Minor/Sub-heads has been made for Service Tax receipts for ten services effective 16.08.2002. The circular lists those services and prescribes new Heads of Account under Major Head 0044 with specific serial and SCCD codes for tax collections, other receipts and deduct refunds. Recipients must notify Commissioners, issue a trade notice to inform field formations and assessees, acknowledge receipt, and implement accounting using the prescribed minor-head/sub-head structure.

Compensation for NAV variation required where recording errors cause price differences; scheme or asset manager must make good losses.
The amendment mandates that trust deeds require trustees to meet at least once every two calendar months (minimum six meetings a year) and lowers the prescribed expense figure. It also establishes that where NAV discrepancies arise from non recording of transactions beyond the prescribed threshold, affected investors or the scheme must be compensated: schemes pay when investors received disadvantageous pricing; asset management companies pay to the scheme where investors were given advantageous pricing and may recover such amounts from investors.

Jurisdiction of Settlement Commission limited where duty liability was disclosed; cannot settle export obligation defaults or waive interest.
Settlement Commission jurisdiction is confined to cases involving failure to make a full and true disclosure of duty liability to the proper officer. Under Advance Licence and EPCG schemes licence holders acknowledge differential customs duty and interest on default via bond/bank guarantee at import; hence defaults in export obligation are not undisclosed liabilities. Consequently, the Commission lacks authority to entertain settlement or waive interest where duty liability was declared and secured at import.

Cenvat credit reversal required where common inputs serve dutiable and exempted goods; prescribed formula must be applied.
Rule 6 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2002 requires that where a manufacturer has not maintained separate inventory and has taken credit on common inputs used for both dutiable and exempted products (except as in sub rule (3)(a)), the prescribed reversal in respect of exempted goods must be made; there is no option to reverse the actual input credit. Failure to pay the prescribed amount will attract recovery with interest under Rule 12 and application of provisions of Rule 13.

Import policy change for CKD/SKD kits: withdrawal of export obligation condition for joint venture car manufacturers under MOU.
The Director General of Foreign Trade amends the regulatory framework for import of CKD/SKD kits by joint venture car manufacturers under MOU by withdrawing the Paragraph 2 condition from the earlier public notice that required fulfilment of export obligations for specified prior imports within the stipulated period unless extended by the Government; the change is stated to be in the public interest.

Correction of effective date in service tax circular on telecom services; field formations and trade must acknowledge receipt.
Corrigendum to a service tax circular amends the date in paragraph 7 of the earlier circular to the corrected date, directs that departmental field formations and trade be informed, requests acknowledgement of receipt, and states that a Hindi version will follow.

Centralisation of search cases: normally allocate searches to central charges, with exceptions for workload or low investigation potential.
Instruction directs that search cases be centralised in central charges as a norm, but permits the Director General (Inv.) or Chief Commissioner (Central) to withhold centralisation due to heavy workload or low investigation potential; where no central charge exists, cases must be centralised in other charges after consultation with the Chief Commissioner(s) having jurisdiction over the group's core cases.