Transitional validity of resolutions under old companies law permitted if implementation began earlier and amendments follow new law.
Resolutions approved under the Companies Act, 1956 between 1st September, 2013 and 31st March, 2014 may be implemented under the Old Act notwithstanding repeal, provided implementation actually commenced before 1st April, 2014. The transitional arrangement remains available until the later of one year from passing of the resolution or six months from commencement of the corresponding provision in the Companies Act, 2013, and any amendment of such resolutions must be made in accordance with the relevant provision of the Companies Act, 2013.

Foreign investment in government securities adjusted; FII/QFI/FPI allocations now require new purchases of bonds with minimum three-year residual maturity.
RBI reallocated part of the foreign investment limit for SEBI-registered investors by increasing the allocation to FIIs/QFIs/FPIs while reducing the sub-limit for long term SEBI-registered investors. The incremental allocation and any future investments made from the vacated limit must be placed in government bonds with a minimum residual maturity of three years. There is no lock-in and existing securities may be sold to domestic investors. SEBI will issue operational guidelines and AD Category I banks must inform constituents; other investment conditions remain unchanged.

Line of Credit conditions for export financing to Senegal require majority Indian content and set LC/disbursement timelines and compliance rules.
A Line of Credit from Exim Bank to the Government of Senegal finances eligible Indian goods, machinery, equipment and consultancy services for meat processing and related projects; a majority of contract value must be supplied from India with the balance allowable from outside. The Agreement effective date sets different cut offs for opening Letters of Credit and disbursements for project versus supply contracts. Shipments must be declared on GR/SDF forms. No agency commission is payable under the LOC; exporters may use own funds or EEFC balances for commission remittances subject to AD bank approval and prevailing instructions. Directions are issued under FEMA.

Recognition of customs brokers association as authorised body to satisfy regulatory requirements under Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations.
Recognition is accorded to the Tuticorin Customs Brokers' Association under Regulation 24 of the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2013, identifying the body (previously the Tuticorin Customs House Agents' Association) and its office at Shipping House, A/14, IInd Floor, World Trade Avenue, Tuticorin; the Commissioner of Customs registers and designates it as the authorised association at this Customs Station to meet Regulation 24 requirements.

Finalization of provisionally assessed BEs requires ICES electronic finalization, ICEGATE duty e-payment, and bond closure procedures.
A new ICES 1.5 module mandates electronic finalization of provisionally assessed Bills of Entry: Assessing Officers forward BEs to Group AC/DCs who finalize using role-specific access. If finalization raises duty, the system issues a challan with duty and interest, payment is made via ICEGATE e-payment or bank branch and integrated into ICES 1.5, after which bond credit/closure is obtained. If duty is unchanged or reduced, bond credit/closure follows directly and refunds proceed under existing procedures. Finally assessed BE copies (Customs and Importer) are generated after duty integration and bond actions.

Education Cess on CVD: default levy introduced; eligible importers must claim exemption by quoting prescribed notification code.
Education Cess and Secondary & Higher Education Cess on CVD will be levied by default for Bills of Entry filed on or after 13.07.2014; eligible importers must claim exemption in the new Bill of Entry column by quoting 013/2012 SI. No. 1. For Bills filed before 13.07.2014, the cesses must be paid manually and the 4% SAD must be adjusted to reflect the increased Central Excise cesses, with differential SAD collected separately.

Project export approvals broadened: authorised banks may grant post award clearances without monetary limits under revised PEM guidance.
Reserve Bank revised project and service export procedures allowing Authorised Dealers and Exim Bank to grant post award approvals without monetary limits, eliminating the Working Group requirement and removing the mandatory time limit for submission of post award approval forms; the revised PEM prescribes procedural safeguards, monitoring, reporting, security and facility conditions and confirms continued applicability of FEMA rules and ECGC/Exim Bank participation requirements.

e-Aadhaar e-KYC acceptance as Officially Valid Document enables paperless KYC verification for money transfer service agents.
Recognition of Aadhaar-based electronic verification, including e-KYC outputs and e-Aadhaar downloads, as valid customer identification for Indian agents under the Money Transfer Service Scheme. e-KYC data provided electronically by UIDAI upon explicit consent and biometric authentication may be treated as an Officially Valid Document for KYC under PML Rules. Indian agents must sign a KYC User Agency agreement, deploy certified biometric scanners and UIDAI-compliant software, secure transmission and encryption of Aadhaar and biometric data, and maintain a complete audit trail.

Accepting e-KYC as an Officially Valid Document enables paperless KYC with biometric authentication for identity and address verification.
Authorised Persons may accept physical Aadhaar or UIDAI e-KYC outputs as an Officially Valid Document for identity and, where address matches, for address verification. Use of UIDAI e-KYC requires the individual's explicit consent, biometric authentication, a KYC User Agency agreement with UIDAI, deployment of certified biometric scanners and UIDAI compliant software, and capture of the digitally signed, encrypted demographic data and photograph with a full audit trail. e-Aadhaar downloaded from UIDAI may be printed from the portal or authenticated by UIDAI services as prescribed.

Reserved name validity extended to align reservation letters with system implementation and reduce stakeholder inconvenience.
Extension of reserved name validity to remedy a discrepancy between letters of intimation and MCA-21 implementation: 1,930 expired reservations are extended to 18 August 2014, and 6,864 pending reservations will retain the time periods stated in their intimations; applicants should file relevant e-forms for incorporation under the Companies Act, 2013 within the applicable reservation periods.

Deemed service by electronic notice: departmental documents published online constitute valid service under VAT rules.
Issuance of any departmental document shall be effected by making it instantly available to dealers under the departmental heading "Notice, Order and Objection", and such electronic availability shall be deemed service on par with other manners of service recognised under the Delhi Value Added Tax rules.

Disclosure obligations for AIFs updated: extended deadline, limited disciplinary disclosure, biannual reporting and definition clarifications.
SEBI extends the deadline to August 31, 2014 for sending the annexure to the placement memorandum. Disciplinary-history disclosure is confined to the last five years and to instances involving monetary penalties above the specified threshold; disputed tax liabilities in an individual's personal capacity are excluded and contingent liabilities are those shown in the entity's books. Modifications to fund terms must be reported to investors and SEBI semi annually on a consolidated basis. Material changes affect fundamental fund attributes, and exit-process rules do not apply where seventy five percent of unit holders by value approve. Joint investors are defined by mutual contribution; investee companies must hold or propose at least one project.

Transfer of technical manpower: allowed for SEZ software units for section 10AA deduction if within prescribed ceiling.
The Circular clarifies that transfer or redeployment of existing technical manpower from an existing unit to a new SEZ unit in the first year of commencement will not be construed as splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business, provided the number of technical manpower so transferred does not exceed twenty percent of the total technical manpower actually engaged in developing software at any point of time in the given year in the new unit.

Delegation of MTSS application processing to regional offices shifts Indian Agent permission filings to local Reserve Bank offices.
Applications for permission to act as Indian Agents under the Money Transfer Service Scheme must henceforth be submitted to the respective Regional Office of the Foreign Exchange Department that has jurisdiction over the applicant's registered office; all other MTSS instructions remain unchanged. The circular requires Authorised Persons to inform their constituents and states the directions are issued under the authority of the Foreign Exchange Management Act without prejudice to other legal permissions.

Rupee Drawing Arrangement approvals delegated to Regional Offices; AD Cat I banks must submit applications and annual review notes to ROs.
Regional Offices of the Reserve Bank are authorised to grant first time permissions for AD Cat I banks to enter into Rupee Drawing Arrangement (RDA) with non resident exchange houses; AD Cat I banks must submit the prescribed application to the Regional Office with jurisdiction over their registered office, may thereafter enter into RDAs subject to prescribed guidelines and must inform that Regional Office immediately. AD Cat I banks must also submit the Board approved annual review note on vostro accounts under RDAs by 30 June each year to the same Regional Office.

Foreign Direct Investment reporting: use NIC 2008 codes in FC GPR and FCTRS and include updated state/district codes.
Indian companies must classify activities using the National Industrial Classification 2008 and record NIC 2008 codes in Form FC-GPR for issues of shares and related instruments and in Form FCTRS for transfers; a uniform State and District code list for inclusion in Form FC-GPR is available on the Reserve Bank website, and Authorised Dealer Category I banks should inform their constituents.

Know Your Customer rules: banks must update KYC, reporting, and beneficial ownership checks under amended PML Rules.
Banks must revise KYC/AML/CFT policies to reflect amendments that define a Designated Director, restrict what qualifies as an Officially Valid Document, permit simplified measures for low risk customers using specified documents, require communication of the Designated Director to FIU IND, and impose changes to transaction definitions, reporting thresholds, and timelines for record retention and submission of CTR/STR/CWTR.

Related party transactions: voting exclusion limited to parties related to the specific contract; restructuring and pre-existing contracts exempt.
The circular confines the voting prohibition to parties related only with respect to the specific contract for which a special resolution is sought, excludes transactions arising from compromises, arrangements and amalgamations from the ambit of section 188, and preserves existing contracts entered into under the prior regime until their original term expires; modifications to such contracts on or after 1 April 2014 must comply with section 188 requirements.

Liberalised Remittance Scheme limit increase permits larger annual individual remittances and allows purchase of property abroad.
The Liberalised Remittance Scheme ceiling for resident individuals has been increased to a higher annual limit, authorising AD Category I banks to remit up to that revised ceiling per financial year for permitted current or capital account transactions or a combination thereof; the Scheme is explicitly permitted for acquisition of immovable property outside India and all other existing terms and conditions of prior circulars remain applicable.

Deduction under section 80G available for contributions to CM Relief Fund Uttarakhand; PAN provided for claiming.
Contributions to the Chief Minister Relief Fund Uttarakhand qualify for 100% deduction under section 80G(2)(iiihf) of the Income Tax Act; the PAN for the Fund for claim purposes is AAAGM0036M.