DEPB eligibility: populated telecom transmission cards are not eligible for benefit and should be denied DEPB claims.
Exporters sought DEPB benefits for populated cards by classifying them as telecom transmission equipment under the DEPB entry; the DEPB Committee held that the entry covers telecom transmission equipments and excludes component parts or populated cards from DEPB admissibility. The Board agreed and directed officers to implement this interpretation to prevent revenue outflow.

Forfeiture of instalment payment facility continues until outstanding dues are cleared following debarment under amended rules.
Amendments provide that when a manufacturer is debarred from the fortnightly instalment payment facility, failure to pay all outstanding dues before the end of the debarment period results in continued forfeiture of the facility until full payment; if outstanding dues are paid within the debarment period, the manufacturer may resume the facility only after the debarment period ends.

Excise duty exemption for specified refrigeration equipment clarified; complete refrigeration plants remain assessable by local excise authorities.
A Notification exempts seventeen specified refrigeration items intended for installation in cold storage, cold rooms, or refrigerated vehicles from excise duty, but expressly excludes a complete refrigeration plant; duty liability arising when a plant comes into existence at the site must be decided on the merits by the jurisdictional excise authorities.

DEPB rate adjustments: formulations receive a reduced DEPB relative to bulk drugs; multi-drug cases follow circular.
The public notice amends Appendix 28A for Chemicals to provide that formulations lacking specific DEPB rates (injections, syrups, oral suspensions, tablets, capsules, IV infusions) receive a reduced DEPB relative to the DEPB for the relevant bulk drug, with a separate rule for multi-bulk-drug formulations to follow the referenced policy circular; it also lists a DEPB entry for metal-fitted/bonded/unbonded rubber parts including engine mounting and automotive parts.

Drawback on composite-material handicrafts: rebate allowed for visually identifiable, weight-verifiable constituent inputs in exports.
Drawback rates applicable to a principal material in the Drawback Table may be applied to that material's content in composite exported handicrafts where the constituent material is visually distinguishable and its declared weight can be verified; this includes extension of the brass drawback rate to brass components. Field formations are directed to decide pending claims accordingly and issue public and internal guidance reflecting this treatment.

Foreign Venture Capital Investment permitted into Indian venture capital funds after FEMA regulation amendment, subject to compliance and penalties.
Registered Foreign Venture Capital Investors are authorised to invest in Indian Venture Capital Undertakings and Venture Capital Funds pursuant to the amendment to the Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of Security by a Person Resident Outside India) Regulations, 2000 by Notification No.FEMA 32/2000-RB dated 26 December 2000; authorised dealers must inform constituents, and these directions are issued under Sections 10(4) and 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, with penalties for non-compliance.

Compulsory dematerialised trading required for identified scrips after depository connectivity, with trade-for-trade interim treatment.
Compulsory dematerialised trading is mandated for specified scrips once companies have established connectivity with both depositories, with compulsory trading commencing three months after the connectivity-based commencement date; scrips lacking connectivity are to be traded on the trade-for-trade settlement window from the settlement period commencing on or immediately after the prescribed date. Scrips that move from trade-for-trade to the normal segment upon establishing connectivity will become compulsorily dematerialised three months after reinstatement, linking trading-segment treatment to depository connectivity and settlement-period deadlines.

Court fee based on demand value: departments must calculate payable fee per rules and remit full amount to agency.
Court fee must be determined by the amount for which demands are made; departments must ascertain the revenue value in each case and compute court fee under Part II of Schedule III to the Supreme Court Rules, 1966. Any shortfall beyond the nominal fee previously paid must be remitted to the Central Agency Section by bank draft, and future case submissions must include the calculated payable fee and total remittance to CAS.

Assessable value: post-manufacture processes inside the same premises can increase assessable value, but outside processing does not.
Where further processes not amounting to manufacture are undertaken within the same factory premises, their cost must be included in the assessable value of the excisable goods; however, if duty-paid goods are cleared from the factory and subjected to such processes outside the factory by separate units or job workers, no additional dutyable value can be added. The Board, on the Law Ministry's advice, treats Siddharth Tubes as confined to intra premises processing and relies on the J.G. Glass ratio to preclude re levy for outside processing.

Quantitative ceiling on cotton yarn exports set for calendar year 2001, with specified exemptions and compliance conditions.
A quantitative ceiling on exports of cotton yarn for the calendar year 2001 sets aggregate limits for specified yarn count categories and takes effect from the start of the year. The notice exempts certain categories from the ceiling, including 100% EOUs (subject to textile count restrictions), advance licence exports, exports based on imported cotton, EPCG exports to meet annualized obligations (with excess charged to the ceiling), bilateral quota exports, yarn above specified counts, and processed yarn, with a later amendment concerning EPCG sourcing/count permissions.

Preferential Tariff Rate Quota placement: raw sugar allocated for export to USA under APEDA managed allocation procedure.
A quantity of raw sugar from the 2000-2001 freesale portion is allocated to the Preferential Raw Cane Sugar Tariff Rate Quota for the United States and placed at APEDA's disposal to issue a Registration cum Allocation Certificate to M/s Indian Sugar and General Industry Export Import Corporation Ltd. Existing procedures for GSP and other required export certifications remain applicable, and exports are subject to pre shipment certification by the Export Inspection Council.

Fast Track Scheme under Section 560 extended, allowing continued simplified corporate winding-up filings under existing terms.
The Department of Company Affairs directs that the Fast Track Scheme under Section 560 of the Companies Act is extended until 31.1.2001; all other terms and conditions of the Scheme remain unchanged, and Regional Directors, Registrars of Companies and Official Liquidators are to note and implement the extension.

Automatic route access extended to international financial institutions for equity investments, subject to securities, banking regulations and sectoral caps.
The press note exempts recognised international financial institutions acquiring equity stakes without technical or trademark collaboration from the restriction in Press Note No. 18, permitting such investments via the automatic route subject to SEBI and RBI regulations and sectoral FDI caps.

DEPB entitlement amendments: value caps and rates adjusted and SEZ supplies made eligible for export promotion licences.
Amendments expand paragraph 8.74 to include SEZs for entitlement purposes and make DTA supplies to SEZ eligible for REP licences; revise DEPB value caps and rates for multiple engineering items, add new DEPB entries for truck and trailer wheels, forged flanges and electrode holders, and amend DEPB rates for specified items; adjust the DEPB rate and value cap for silk garments; add a certification agency to the IS/ISO 9000 list; and amend paragraph 10.15(iv) to prescribe application and filing requirements for fixation of brand rates for duty drawback, maintaining existing time limits and late cut provisions.

Standard Input-Output Norms updated: new SION corrections and product-group entries added to the Handbook of Procedures.
The Director General of Foreign Trade has issued amendments to the Standard Input Output Norms under Paragraph 4.11 of the Export and Import Policy 1997-2002, effecting corrections in existing SION entries and adding new entries across Chemicals and Allied Products, Engineering Products, Food Products and Plastic Products. Annexure A lists textual amendments and substituted norms; Annexures B-E add new export-import input relationships and product-specific import conditions, including notes on finished-leather consumption and a prior-import condition for a food export entry.

Appointment of ROCs and OLs: existing officers authorised to perform company law functions in the new states.
Notifications in the Gazette authorise the existing Registrars of Companies and Official Liquidators for Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to perform their statutory functions for the new States of Chhatisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand respectively; the Department of Company Affairs forwards those notifications to Regional Directors, Registrars of Companies and Official Liquidators and requests acknowledgement of receipt.