Master Circular consolidates mutual fund rules on offer documents, scheme categorisation, risk management, disclosures and governance.
SEBI's Master Circular consolidates operative mutual fund circulars, prescribing comprehensive requirements for offer documentation (SID/SAI/KIM) filings and updates, scheme categorisation and minimum allocations, uniform product and plan structures including Direct Plans, risk management and stress testing protocols, rules for creation and governance of segregated portfolios after issuer-level credit events, redemption restriction conditions in systemic crises, extensive disclosure and reporting obligations (portfolio, AUM, performance benchmarked to TRI, CTRs, MCR, NSR), governance and conduct norms for trustees, AMCs, auditors and intermediaries, and technology, cyber security and AI/ML reporting obligations.

Virtual personal hearings made mandatory for customs and indirect tax proceedings with prescribed email and record procedures.
Personal hearings in proceedings under the Customs Act, Central Excise Act, Chapter V of the Finance Act, CGST and IGST Acts shall be conducted by video conferencing. Authorities must notify parties by official email with the hearing link and officer-in-charge details; appellants or their representatives must email scanned vakalatnama and photo ID. A PDF "record of personal hearing" summarising submissions will be sent within one day and may be amended and returned signed within three days; emailed records are recognised under the Information Technology Act. Additional self-attested documents may be emailed within three days after the hearing.

Virtual personal hearings mandated for tax and customs proceedings; video conferencing procedures, records and electronic filings required.
Mandating virtual personal hearings for proceedings under Customs, Central Excise, Finance Act Chapter V and CGST/IGST, authorities must schedule hearings via video conferencing, communicate secure links and officer-in-charge details by official email, and require scanned vakalatnama/ID from representatives. Oral submissions will be captured as a written record of personal hearing sent in PDF within one day; parties may modify and return the signed record within three days or be deemed to agree. Electronically submitted documents are valid under the relevant statutes read with the Information Technology Act.

Deferred payment of Customs import duty extended to authorised public undertakings with specified eligibility, ICEGATE authentication, and payment rules.
Extension of the deferred payment of Customs import duty to Authorised Public Undertakings (APUs) allows eligible Central/State public undertakings to clear imports without immediate duty payment under the Deferred Payment of Import Duty Rules, 2016. Eligibility requires government ownership/control, a valid IEC, recommendation by a Deputy Secretary-rank officer, compliance undertakings, and meeting AEO-related legal compliance criteria. Approved APUs are registered by the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner, DIC, CBIC for a two-year term (renewable) and must nominate an ICEGATE-enabled nodal person to authenticate deferred-payment intent via OTP; payment due dates follow rule 5 of the Deferred Payment Rules.

Virtual personal hearings mandated for customs proceedings, with video conferencing, emailed records, and electronic recognition of hearing records.
Mandatory adoption of virtual personal hearings is required for proceedings under the Customs Act and related indirect tax proceedings, with authorities to notify parties by official email, provide conferencing links and officer-in-charge details, and require scanned authorization and photo ID by email. Oral submissions will be transcribed into a record of personal hearing sent as a PDF within one day; parties may amend and return the signed record within three days, after which it is final, and electronically submitted records are recognised under information technology law.

Deferred payment of customs duty extended to authorised public undertakings with eligibility, ICEGATE authentication, and monitoring requirements.
Authorised Public Undertakings may avail deferred payment of customs import duty under the Deferred Payment of Import Duty Rules, 2016 as amended, subject to eligibility: government ownership/control, valid IEC, recommendation by a senior government officer, adherence to Deferred Payment Rules, and AEO style compliance checks. Applicants must seek approval from the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner, DIC, CBIC; approvals run initially for two years. A designated nodal person must obtain ICEGATE login and authenticate deferred payment intent via Bill of Entry flag and OTP. Payment timetables follow Rule 5; monitoring and revocation mechanisms are specified.

Virtual personal hearings mandated for tax and customs proceedings, with prescribed VC procedures and electronic record submission.
Personal hearings under customs, central excise, Chapter V of the Finance Act and the GST laws shall be conducted mandatorily through virtual personal hearings. Authorities must notify parties of date, time, VC link and officer in charge by official email; require scanned vakalatnama and photo ID; hold VC from official facilities using secured applications; prepare a written "record of personal hearing" emailed within one day; allow three days for signed modifications; accept self attested scanned documents within three days; and treat the record as a document under Section 4 of the Information Technology Act.

Deferred payment of Customs duty extended to authorized public undertakings, subject to eligibility, ICEGATE OTP authentication and monitoring.
Extension of the deferred payment of Customs import duty to Authorized Public Undertakings (APUs) is authorised from the Notification dated 19.08.2020 and governed by the Deferred Payment of Import Duty Rules, 2016 (as amended). Eligible APUs-Government companies, statutory corporations, departments or autonomous bodies with IEC and requisite governmental recommendation-must apply to the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner, DIC, CBIC for a two-year approval (renewable). Approved APUs must obtain ICEGATE login, authenticate deferred-payment intent via OTP, indicate flag "D" on Bills of Entry for clearance, and remit duty by the due dates prescribed in rule 5, with monitoring and potential revocation for non-compliance.

Virtual personal hearings mandated for customs, excise and GST proceedings, with prescribed video-conferencing procedure and records.
Personal hearings in proceedings under Customs, Central Excise, Chapter V of the Finance Act and the CGST/IGST Acts are mandated to be conducted via video conferencing. Authorities must notify parties by official email with joining links and officer contact details, require scanned authorization and photo ID, and conduct hearings from official facilities or approved platforms. Oral submissions will be reduced to a written "record of personal hearing" emailed within one day; parties have three days to sign or modify it. Documents filed during hearings must be self-attested and emailed within three days.

IFSC access expanded: entities based in India or abroad may provide financial services subject to Board-specified compliance.
Addition of Clause 8(3) permits entities based in India or in foreign jurisdictions to provide financial services in IFSC, provided they comply with the applicable regulatory framework and guidelines for such financial services as specified by the Board from time to time.

Accounting standards for IFSC debt issuers require IFRS/US GAAP/Ind AS compliance or a quantified reconciliation in disclosures.
Issuers listing debt securities in IFSC must prepare financial statements under IFRS, US GAAP or Ind AS or their home accounting standards. If not prepared under those frameworks, issuers must include a quantitative summary of significant differences between national standards and IFRS in disclosure documents; alternatively, for issues aimed at institutional investors a statement of differences plus a disclaimer that effects are not quantified is permissible.

Deferred payment of customs import duty extended to authorised public undertakings, subject to eligibility, ICEGATE authentication and monitoring.
Extension of the deferred payment of Customs import duty to Authorised Public Undertakings allows eligible government-owned or controlled companies, statutory corporations, departments or autonomous bodies with valid IEC and a prescribed recommendation to apply to the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner, DIC, CBIC for approval. Approved APUs will be registered in the Customs Automated System, appoint a nodal person for ICEGATE OTP authentication, mark Bills of Entry with flag "D" to indicate deferred payment, and must pay by the due dates under the Deferred Payment of Import Duty Rules, 2016; the Commissioner may monitor compliance and revoke approval for ineligibility or non-compliance.

Manufacturing in special warehouse requires special warehouse licence, integrated application, bonds, electronic records and GST/ex-bond compliance.
Manufacturing and other operations on specified warehoused goods require a special warehouse licence and permission under the Customs Act; applicants may seek both via an integrated application. Licensees must execute the prescribed bond and furnish bank-guarantee security, maintain electronic records with audit-trail and time-stamp, submit monthly returns, and demonstrate compliant software to customs. Exports require shipping bills; domestic clearances are taxable supplies under GST with ex-bond bill of entry for import-duty payment. Physical security, CCTV, customs examination space, and chargeable customs supervision are mandatory.

Disaster Recovery drill halts electronic customs filing and payment services during planned switch over to DR site.
A Disaster Recovery Drill will switch operations from the Primary Data Centre in Delhi to the DR site in Chennai, during which document filing at Service Centres and via the Remote EDI System (RES), online customs duty payments, and GSTN integration services will be unavailable in specified maintenance windows. All ICES activities by officers and service centres must be completed before the outage; trade associations should notify members and departmental officers must treat the instruction as a Standing Order. Difficulties should be reported to the Additional Commissioner (Technical) by email.

Udyam registration requirement: MSME classification uses written down value for plant and machinery and prior registrations temporarily recognized.
Udyam Registration Certificate is required for MSME classification and lenders may obtain it from entrepreneurs. Existing EM Part II and UAM registrations are temporarily valid and must be refiled on the Udyam portal by the transition deadline; self declaration Udyam certificates for entities exempt from turnover or income filings are temporarily valid. For classification, value of plant and machinery or equipment means Written Down Value at financial year end as defined in tax law, replacing cost of acquisition; earlier RBI guidance on investment valuation is superseded.

Virtual personal hearings now mandatory for specified indirect tax proceedings, with emailed records treated as statutory documents.
Mandatory implementation of virtual personal hearings is prescribed for proceedings under the Customs Act, Central Excise Act, Chapter V of the Finance Act and extended to CGST and IGST proceedings. Authorities must notify that hearings will be via video conference, provide official email contact and meeting link, require scanned authorization and photo ID, and reduce oral submissions to a record of personal hearing sent as a PDF within one day. Parties may amend and return the record within three days; the record is deemed a statutory document under Section 4 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Exceptions to virtual mode require written approval with reasons.

Verification of origin obligations require importers to provide origin evidence and enable country to country verification before preferential treatment.
CAROTAR and the statutory importer duty require importers to retain and provide minimum information proving compliance with Rules of Origin; where doubts about a Certificate of Origin's genuineness or the accuracy of origin claims persist after seeking information from the importer, customs may request verification from the exporting country via the Board's International Customs Division. Verification requests must be representative, complete, approved by the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner/Commissioner, include legible CoO, invoice and transport documents, and follow prescribed timelines; specimen signatures are stored on ICES to assist verification.

GST refund and adjustment procedures clarified: credit notes, refund vouchers, LUT extension, and return deposit compliance guidance.
Suppliers who paid GST on advances or on supplies later cancelled or returned must issue credit notes where invoices were issued and declare them in the return for the month of issuance to adjust tax liability; if no output liability exists, claims may be filed as "excess payment of tax" via Form GST RFD-01. Where advances had no invoice, suppliers must issue a refund voucher and may claim refund by Form GST RFD-01. Continuity of LUT for zero-rated supplies is preserved subject to furnishing Form GST RFD-11 within the extended timeline, and timelines for TDS deposit (GSTR-7) and refund application filing are correspondingly extended.

Unit quantity codes in Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills standardized; only Annexure codes allowed from 20.08.2020.
Prescribed Statistical Unit Quantity Codes (SQCs) must be declared for every item in Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills in addition to invoice commercial units, and from 20.08.2020 only commercial UQCs listed in the Annexure will be accepted; any other commercial UQC declarations will be rejected. Stakeholders must follow the standardized UQCs when filing and report implementation difficulties to the Additional/Joint Commissioner. This Public Notice functions as a standing order for officers and staff.

Unit Quantity Codes in Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills must use prescribed Annexure codes; others will be rejected.
From 20.08.2020, commercial Unit Quantity Codes declared in Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills must be limited to the specific codes listed in the Annexure; any other UQC will not be accepted. Statistical Unit Quantity Codes prescribed under the Tariff Act remain mandatory in addition to commercial units, and the notice is to be treated as a standing order with trade associations and brokers required to publicize the change.