First-time import document verification expanded to include excise and service tax registrations, with relaxation available on request.
First-time import document requirements at ACC, Sahar are amended to accept VAT/Sales Tax/Central Excise/Service Tax registration certificates and to accept Income Tax Return, VAT or Sales Tax Return, Central Excise Return or Service Tax Return as proof; importers unable to furnish any listed document may seek relaxation from the Additional Commissioner, and assessing officers must promptly place such files for orders, while other requirements remain unchanged.

Export certification requirement for specified minerals under export law; only certificates from recognized inspection agencies accepted.
Export of scheduled Group I and Group II minerals and ores is allowed only if accompanied by a certificate issued by an agency recognized under the Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act; exporters, customs agents and trade are required to use the listed recognized inspection agencies operating at Visakhapatnam.

Information sharing with Special Investigation Team required from authorised persons, enabling investigations and resource facilitation under FEMA powers.
Authorised persons must ensure that information and documents required by the Special Investigation Team are made available as and when required; this direction is issued under Section 10(4) and Section 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and is without prejudice to permissions or approvals under any other law.

Payment of sanctioned rebate/refund to claimants will be made mandatorily via RTGS/NEFT under ECS from bank-verified accounts.
Sanctioned refunds and rebates must be mandatorily credited to claimants' bank accounts via RTGS/NEFT under ECS; claimants must provide bank-authenticated details in Annexure A, pending unpaid claims will also be paid via RTGS/NEFT, and sanctioning authorities will submit Annexure B with a consolidated cheque to the bank for verification and crediting of individual beneficiaries, with banks allowed to deduct any service charges from the sanctioned amounts.

Customs Area designation imposes custodian responsibility and supervised handling rules for LCL import cargo at the CFS.
Designation of part of M/s. Glovis India Pvt. Ltd.'s CFS as a Customs Area for LCL import cargo requires container movement with prescribed permission, destuffing under customs supervision, container-wise tallying against import manifests with endorsements, and recording of shortages. The CFS as CUSTODIAN is responsible for shortages or pilferage and may incur duty liability; it must stack cargo by manifest and container number, provide secured storage for sensitive goods, follow statutory disposal for unclaimed cargo, and submit monthly statements to Customs.

All-in-cost ceiling for external commercial borrowings continues under ECB policy, with other provisions remaining unchanged and reviewable.
The circular directs that the existing all-in-cost ceiling for External Commercial Borrowings remains applicable until December thirty-first, two thousand fourteen and will be reviewed thereafter; all other ECB policy provisions remain unchanged. Category I Authorized Dealer banks must notify their constituents and customers. The directions are issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and do not affect other legal permissions or approvals.

All-in-cost ceiling for trade credits maintained, preserving existing import finance conditions pending review by RBI under FEMA.
The Reserve Bank of India has directed that the existing all-in-cost ceiling for Trade Credits for imports into India will continue to be applicable until further review, with all other aspects of Trade Credit policy remaining unchanged; AD Category-I banks must inform constituents, and the directions are issued under Sections 10(4) and 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.

FETERS reporting requirements: discontinue ENC and schedule files; submit only BOP6 and QE files from September.
Authorised Dealer banks must stop submitting ENC and Schedule 3-6 files to FETERS from the first fortnight of September 2014 because EDPMS will provide that information. AD banks must report all ENC and Schedule 3-6 transaction data for export shipping bills/invoices generated prior to March 1, 2014 by August 31, 2014, with late submissions allowed only with RBI technical support. From that September period, only the BOP6 and QE files are required under FETERS, and all other FETERS submission guidelines remain in force. Directions are issued under FEMA.

Taxation of alternate investment funds: trustees as representative assessee taxed at maximum marginal rate when beneficiaries unnamed.
Where a trust deed does not name investors or specify beneficial interests, the entire income of an Alternative Investment Fund formed as a non-charitable trust is taxable in the hands of the trustees as Representative Assessee at the Maximum Marginal Rate, and corresponding proceedings need not be pursued against contributors. If beneficiaries and their interests are expressly stated, tax on the fund's whole income, including business profits, is leviable upon the trustees in their representative capacity under the statute.

Container scanning requirement mandates RMS-selected import containers be scanned and stamped, with suspicious images flagged for examination.
Selected import containers are identified by the Risk Management System and must be transported by custodians/terminal operators to the Container Scanning Facility, where inspectors verify container and seal numbers and stamp the EIR as "SCANNED" (blue) for clean images, "SUSPICIOUS; SEND TO DC/AC, Container Scanning Division" (red) for suspect images, or "NOT SCANNED DUE TO ODC/OVERWEIGHT/EMPTY/COASTAL" as applicable; scanned containers are returned to CFS/ICD and examination at destination follows stamping instructions.

Filing deadline extension for VAT returns: submission period extended; tax payment obligation unchanged; e sign filers exempt from hard copy.
The Commissioner extended the last date to file online or hard copy first quarter VAT returns for 2014-15 in Forms DVAT 16, DVAT 17 and DVAT 48 with required annexures to 08/08/2014; tax due remains payable as per the VAT Act and dealers filing with a digital signature need not submit a hard copy (Form DVAT 56).

Prepaid foreign currency cards must be sold with equivalent due diligence and KYC standards as other foreign currency instruments.
Prepaid foreign currency cards are a form of foreign currency and authorised dealers/FFMCs selling prepaid foreign currency cards for travel purposes are required to comply with the same rigorous standards of due diligence and KYC as they would in case they were selling foreign currency notes/travellers cheques to their customers.

Alignment of working days: LCSs at Raxaul and Jogbani to operate six days with Saturday half day to facilitate trade.
Land Customs Stations at Raxaul and Jogbani shall operate six days a week on a full day basis with a half day on Saturday, and the remaining LCSs under the Commissionerate shall operate six days a week, a directive issued to align working days with counterpart stations across the Nepal border to facilitate trade; the notice supersedes the earlier public notice and is promulgated for wide publicity among trade stakeholders.

Extension of SEZ approvals tied to demonstrable operational progress; conditional co-developer and authorized-operation approvals follow compliance safeguards.
The Board approved or refused extensions of formal approvals and LoPs based on demonstrable progress toward operationalisation, granting time-limited extensions where justified and rejecting cases with unsatisfactory progress. Co-developer and authorized-operation approvals were granted subject to conditions limiting approvals to infrastructure creation or specified activities, compliance with NFE obligations, environmental and statutory clearances, and preservation of tax authorities' rights to examine and assess tax treatment of leases, premiums and transfers under SEZ and Income Tax law.

Administrative direction to accept income-tax returns on weekend with extended counters ensures timely filing by tax offices.
An administrative direction under Section 119 instructs income-tax offices to accept returns of income during normal office hours on specified weekend dates preceding the statutory filing deadline and to make special arrangements, including opening additional receipt counters where required, to facilitate timely filing; the instructions must be given wide publicity and are circulated to administrative and communications units for implementation.

Related party definition clarified: insertion of 'or his relative' after manager to harmonise scope under the Act.
Clarifies the statutory definition of related party by inserting the phrase "or his relative" after the word "manager" in clause (76)(iv) to harmonise the definition across sub clauses and ensure managers and their relatives are captured consistently as related parties.

Position limits for domestic institutional investors clarified - subject to sectoral regulator permission; banks must follow central bank guidance.
Position limits for domestic institutional investors in permitted currency derivatives pairs shall follow paragraph 12(a) of SEBI Circular CIR/MRD/DP/20/2014, subject to permission from their sectoral regulators; banks trading in the segment must follow the central bank's DIR-series guidance in paragraph 3. Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations must amend bye laws and systems, notify brokers and clearing members, disseminate the circular on their websites, and report implementation status to SEBI.

Vehicle overloading compliance required: exporters, custodians and port authorities must ensure vehicles carry only permissible registered weights.
Exporters, custodians of ICDs/CFSs and importers must ensure vehicles carrying export or bulk import cargo are not loaded beyond the permissible weight shown in the vehicle's Registration Certificate; container movements between Tuticorin Port and ICD/CFS move under bonds executed by custodians.

Licence requirement for diagnostic x ray equipment: AERB authorisation needed before import, sale, possession or use.
Only diagnostic x ray equipment that is type approved and NOC validated may be marketed and used, and a licence from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board is required for handling radiation sources-including manufacture, possession, storage, use, transfer, export, import and disposal-under the Atomic Energy (Radiation Protection) Rules, 2004; importers must obtain licences and notify customers of this requirement.

Government debt investment limit increased for FPIs; incremental allocation subject to three-year minimum residual maturity.
The circular reallocates government debt capacity by increasing the FPI allocation and reducing the long term FPI tranche within the overall cap; incremental and replacement investments against vacated limits must be placed in government bonds with a minimum residual maturity of three years, while there is no lock in and existing auctioned limits are grandfathered.