Value-based exemption declaration requirement: manufacturers exceeding aggregate clearances must file the prescribed declaration within a short timeframe.
Manufacturers availing the value based exemption who exceeded the aggregated value of clearances for Home Consumption of 90 Lakhs in the previous financial year must file the prescribed Declaration under Central Excise Notification No. 36/2001; units that have not filed must do so within ten days of the Trade Notice, and Trade Associations are directed to publicise the requirement.

Prosecution procedure under Direct Tax Laws: revised criteria and timelines to process offences and initiate complaints.
Revised procedure prescribes categories of offences to be processed for prosecution under Direct Tax laws, including failures to deposit TDS/TCS, wilful attempts to evade tax or payment, failure to produce books or comply with audit directions, falsification of accounts, and abetment of false returns. Processing authorities, thresholds and appellate-confirmation requirements determine mandatory cases; preferred timelines for processing by assessing officers or authorized officers are specified; search/survey detections and compounding petitions receive special procedural treatment; exceptions include cases of major fraud, links to anti-national activity, large-scale concealment and an age-based restraint for elderly individuals.

VKGUY eligibility narrowed: specified milk and dairy product exports excluded from scheme benefits under appendix amendment.
Amendments redefine VKGUY eligibility: Product Code 02 now covers ITC HS codes 0407-0409; Product Code 10.7 (ice cream under ITC HS 2105) is deleted; Product Code 10.26 expressly excludes ITC HS codes 19011001 and 19011010 for exports with effect from 17.4.2008. Casein was never listed and thus was not eligible. Consequently, exports with effect from 17.4.2008 of milk and value added milk products under ITC HS codes 0401-0406, 19011001, 19011010 and 2105 are not entitled to VKGUY benefits.

DEPB entitlement preserved for exports shipped before withdrawal; benefits apply at the rate on date of shipment.
Exports made prior to the date of withdrawal or suspension of DEPB rates shall be entitled to DEPB benefit at the rate prevalent on the date of shipment, with the date of shipment determined as per paragraph 9.12 of the Handbook of Procedures, Vol. I.

VKGUY entitlement rate admissibility clarified for exports under Duty Drawback where drawback component is up to low rates.
Where exports are made under the Duty Drawback Scheme with combined Customs and Excise drawback at or below a low threshold, exporters are entitled to the higher VKGUY entitlement calculated on FOB value; similarly, exports under DEPB claimed only for packing material remain eligible for full VKGUY entitlement. The circular links these clarifications to the Foreign Trade Policy provision introducing a reduced duty credit scrip rate in certain cases and states the entitlement rules apply from that provision's effective date.

VKGUY entitlement: shipments under Duty Drawback with minimal drawback qualify for higher entitlement rate under policy.
VKGUY entitlement is admissible at five percent of FOB value for exports under the Duty Drawback Scheme where combined Customs and Excise drawback is up to one percent; the 3.5% reduced Duty Credit rate applies only when Chapter 4 agricultural input import benefits are availed, and DEPB claims limited to packing material do not preclude the full VKGUY entitlement. The provision applies from the FTP(RE2006) effective period onward.

DEPB benefit exclusion: skimmed milk products and casein excluded from entitlement, correcting prior public notice.
The Director General of Foreign Trade issues a corrigendum to Public Notice No. 4 amending the Schedule of DEPB rates to exclude export entitlement for Skimmed Milk Product (SMP), Casein and other specified milk products, and "Casein all types" in the Chemicals product group, thereby removing DEPB benefit eligibility for those listed product codes.

Amendment to Nodal Officers List updates Directorate General of Foreign Trade contact details to assist exporters.
Amendment updates the Appendix 17 entry for the Directorate General of Foreign Trade by replacing Serial No. 16 with the nominated officer's name, designation, office location and contact information as the authorised point to assist exporters, issued by the Director General of Foreign Trade under policy authority and communicated by public notice.

Auto approval for container movement to CFSs triggers system permission upon grant of entry inwards.
IGM messages will be transmitted to custodians only after grant of entry inwards. Amendments before entry inwards do not require Assistant Commissioner approval; amendments after entry inwards require such approval. Auto approval for movement of containerised import cargo to CFSs is granted by ICES at entry inwards when prescribed IGM fields (nature of cargo, cargo movement, bond registration number, MLO code) are correctly declared; CHSA126 messages notify terminal operators. Bond registration and debits are mandatory for auto approval; bond re-credit follows verification on arrival or re-export.

IGM transmission rule: custodial IGM messages sent only after entry inwards, enabling auto-approval for container movements.
IGM messages will be sent to custodians only after grant of Entry Inwards; amendments before entry inwards need no Assistant Commissioner approval, while amendments after entry inwards require such approval. Movement requests to CFS/ECY must be included in IGM Message 1B with specified fields (CFS/ECY code, nature of cargo 'C'/'CP', cargo movement 'LC', bond registration number, and MLO code) for ICES to auto-approve container movement at entry inwards. Transit/General/Container bonds will be debited based on container ISO/type and recredited on verified exit or re-export; post-approval amendments are limited and gate-tracked.

Public Information Officer designation - Department assigns PIOs and a First Appellate Authority to manage RTI application processing.
Designation of specific officers as Public Information Officers and appointment of an Addl. Commissioner as First Appellate Authority under the Right to Information Acts, allocating jurisdictional responsibility across departmental branches for handling RTI requests, appeals, revisions and objections. The Administration Branch will perform secretarial coordination with the Administrative Reforms Department, the IT Department is to issue login credentials for uploading RTI information, and the EDP Manager is directed to publish department RTI information on the website to ensure compliance and reporting.

Import quota restriction for vegetable fats under ISLFTA requires TRQC and CoO, quarterly allocation, and specified port entry.
Imposes an Import Quota for specified vegetable fats under the Indo Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement and requires presentation of a Tariff Rate Quota Certificate (TRQC) and Certificate of Origin (CoO) issued by the designated Sri Lankan authority; TRQCs must be issued in duplicate and record allocation, cumulative exports, consignment quantity and remaining quarterly balance. The annual quota is allocated in equal quarterly tranches with no carry over, imports are confined to listed ports and ICDs, and customs must submit consolidated monthly reports to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.

Special currency basket valuation revised; banks must apply new rupee conversion for deferred payment protocols promptly.
The rupee valuation of the special currency basket for the Deferred Payment Protocols is revised and fixed at Rs.58.6670 effective April 7, 2008, replacing the earlier indicated value; A.D. Category I banks are required to apply this revised rupee value and notify their constituents, pursuant to directions issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.

Certificate of Origin authorization updates authorised issuing agencies and contact details under Foreign Trade Policy.
Amendment updates the list of agencies authorized to issue Certificate of Origin Non-Preferential: the Delhi Chamber of Commerce entry is revised with address and contact details; the Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (Delhi) entry is revised to include principal and branch addresses with contact information; and the Greater Rajkot Chamber of Commerce and Industries is added as an authorized issuer for Gujarat.

Shareholder having trading rights clarified to include direct and indirect trading interests, affecting public shareholding composition.
The term "shareholder having trading rights" means a shareholder who has a trading interest in the stock exchange, whether directly or indirectly through a person having trading rights; an indirect trading interest is to be understood as an associate under regulation 2(1)(b) of the relevant Regulations, to ensure application of the public shareholding requirements.

Margining flexibility for institutional clients: approved securities and early pay-in reduce margin obligations, exchanges to implement systems.
Permits institutional clients to maintain entire margin in approved securities subject to prescribed haircuts; requires exchanges to enable early pay-in of funds so positions covered by early pay-in are excluded from margin computation; mandates systems to allow adjustment of members' pay-in obligations from the cash component of deposited liquid assets; and directs exchanges to issue guidelines, test systems, amend bye-laws, notify members, and report monthly on implementation.

Client collateral protection: brokers must maintain records, reconcile holdings and issue daily collateral utilization statements to clients.
The circular requires brokers to ensure client collateral is used only to meet the respective client's margin requirements and pay-ins, maintain an audit trail of collateral receipt, client authorisations, deposits with exchanges/clearing corporations, returns, and crediting of corporate actions, and to reconcile these records periodically. Brokers must issue daily collateral utilization statements to clients with a breakdown by cash, FDRs, bank guarantees and securities. Exchanges must investigate complaints, inspect brokers, impose deterrent penalties for mis utilisation, amend bye laws, disseminate the provisions, and report implementation to the regulator.

Refund of service tax: exporters entitled to refunds for specified services; claims must be processed promptly with mandated escalation.
Refund of service tax is available to exporters for 16 specified taxable services attributable to export of goods even if not input services. Refund claims must be finalized within a maximum of 30 days and Commissioners must establish review and monitoring systems. Claims not disposed within 30 days must be reported monthly to the Chief Commissioner in a prescribed proforma; claims outstanding beyond 45 days must be escalated to the Member (Service Tax) by email with copy to the Chief Commissioner. Small and medium exporters' claims should be prioritized.

Export eligibility restriction: dairy products excluded from VKGUY and Focus Market scheme benefits with immediate effect.
Export of Skimmed Milk Product (SMP), Casein and any other Milk Product are excluded from entitlement under the VKGUY Scheme and the Focus Market scheme; the Handbook of Procedures is amended to remove eligibility for those dairy products from these incentive schemes with immediate effect.

DEPB entitlement removal for skimmed milk, casein and related milk products, altering export benefit eligibility immediately.
Amendment removes DEPB entitlement for Skimmed Milk Product (SMP), Casein and other milk products listed under Product Code 90 and the Casein entry under Product Code 62, excluding the items at Sl. No. 22C, 22D and Sl. No. 571 from the Schedule of DEPB Rates and disqualifying them from DEPB benefits; the change is effected under Paragraph 2.4 of the Foreign Trade Policy and Paragraph 1.1 of the Handbook of Procedures (Vol. I) with immediate effect, and a corrigendum corrected prior drafting.