Export of pulses to Maldives channelled through a designated exporter, implementing the bilateral trade allocation.
Export of pulses to the Republic of Maldives, authorised by Notification No. 77 (RE-2013) for specified annual quantities during 2014-15 to 2016-17 under the bilateral agreement, shall be effected through the designated agency M/s. PEC Ltd., pursuant to Paragraph 2.4 of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2009-14, thereby operationalising the notification by naming the nominated exporter.

Central Sales Tax return filing: amended Form 1 and DVAT-56 receipt required; transitional exclusion for specified years.
Amendments to the Central Sales Tax (Delhi) Rules, 2005 substitute Form 1 and require issuance of an acknowledgment in Form DVAT-56 with Part 'C' of the receipted treasury challan; the revised Form 1 prescribes itemised turnover, deductions, tax calculation, verification and supporting document requirements. A departmental circular permits the 2013-14 fourth-quarter return to be filed in the pre-amendment format including blocks R10 and R11, but bars reporting year 2009-10 and 2010-11 in R10 due to completed default assessments, and directs assessing authorities to scrutinise and assess affected cases accordingly.

Electronic payment of export rebate/refund via RTGS/NEFT mandated, with bank-certified authorization and remittance verification.
Electronic payment of sanctioned rebate/refund amounts via RTGS/NEFT replaces cheque payments; claimants must submit a bank-certified One Time Authorization at filing (valid one financial year) which is recorded in an authorization register. Jurisdictional authorities will submit weekly Annexure B lists with a consolidated cheque to Bank of Baroda, which will verify details, deduct applicable RTGS/NEFT charges as per RBI guidelines, remit net amounts to beneficiaries, and return remittance particulars (including UTR) in Annexure B-1 for entry in the Refund/Rebate Order.

Adjustment of seized cash: seized cash cannot be applied to tax payable on income declared in a Settlement Commission application.
Seized cash is to be applied against liabilities already determined by assessment, penalty or interest arising from search proceedings and does not include the additional tax and interest payable on income declared in an application before the Income Tax Settlement Commission, since that amount must be paid on or before filing and therefore is not an existing liability for the purpose of applying seized cash.

Manual filing restrictions for import/export documents - Commissioners must permit only exceptional cases; supervisory enforcement required.
Manual filing of Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills is permitted only in exceptional cases where electronic filing is not feasible, and the authority to allow manual processing rests solely with the Commissioner of Customs; supervisory officers must ensure strict compliance with statutory provisions and Board instructions to prevent routine or improper manual filings, particularly at vulnerable outlying facilities.

Margin restoration for USD INR contracts restored to prior rates; exchanges must amend rules and implement by mid April.
The circular restores initial and extreme loss margins for USD INR currency derivatives to their pre July 08, 2013 rates, effective April 15, 2014. Stock exchanges and recognized clearing corporations must amend byelaws, implement systems for the restored margins, notify trading/clearing members, and disseminate the change on their websites under SEBI's statutory regulatory powers to protect investors and promote orderly markets.

Demat account rules: SEBI's master circular consolidates KYC, DIS, BSDA, transmission and depository governance requirements.
Consolidates SEBI circulars up to March 31, 2014 governing depositories, DPs and BO accounts: prescribes KYC (PAN as primary identifier with specified PoI/PoA and exemptions), mandatory Rights and Obligations document, BSDA eligibility and charge limits, DIS standardization/monitoring/scanning and investor safeguards, timelines and simplified documentation for transmission and dematerialisation, DP inspection and risk based categorisation, IT governance and BCP requirements, disclosure and grievance procedures, and adoption/assessment against CPSS IOSCO PFMIs.

Government debt investment restriction requires foreign investors to hold only dated securities with minimum one-year residual maturity.
Foreign Institutional Investors and Qualified Foreign Investors may invest only in dated government securities with a residual maturity of one year or above; existing Treasury Bill holdings may run off on maturity or sale and no further purchases of T Bills are permitted. The total government debt allocation remains capped and is redistributed toward longer maturities, with specified institutional categories retaining dedicated access.

Booking of foreign exchange forward contracts: residents may self-declare exposures to book forwards without underlying documentation.
Resident individuals, firms and companies with actual or anticipated foreign exchange exposures may book foreign exchange forward contracts on the basis of a simple self-declaration without producing underlying documents; SMEs' prior facilities for booking, canceling or rolling over forwards without documentation remain unchanged. Authorised Dealer Category I banks must use the revised reporting format and continue to apply other conditions, including tenor, as prescribed earlier. The directions are issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act and are without prejudice to other statutory permissions.

Foreign investment in government securities confined to longer term dated securities, barring fresh short term treasury investments.
Foreign investment is limited to Government dated securities having residual maturity of one year and above; existing investments in Treasury Bills and in dated securities with less than one year residual maturity may taper off on maturity or sale, while no fresh investment in short term government instruments is permitted. Operational guidelines to implement the maturity restriction will be issued and all other existing investment conditions remain unchanged.

Demand Verification via CPC portal requires AO confirmation, rectification procedures and specified safeguards and supervisory approval where required.
Assessing Officers must verify and confirm outstanding demands in CPC FAS via AST and the CPC Demand Verification Portal. Demands are treated as Category 1 (CPC generated or post cut over AST) to be rectified in AST, or Category 2 (pre cut over AST/manual PAN demands) to be uploaded, modified and updated on the portal. Verification requires evidence of payment (CIN/OLTAS confirmation or documentary proof), validation of TDS credits in 26AS, and adherence to safeguards-indemnity bonds and Range Head approval-when reductions are permitted without CIN. AOs must record outcomes using CAP I attributes and annexed data fields.

Compounding powers delegated to regional offices for specified FEMA contraventions, with high value cases retained at central cell.
Regional Offices of the Reserve Bank are empowered to compound six specific FEMA contraventions concerning share issuance and related foreign inward remittances, filing of form FC(GPR), delayed issue or refund of share monies, pricing guideline violations, issuance of ineligible instruments, and issuance without requisite approvals. All Regional Offices except Kochi and Panaji may compound these contraventions without monetary limit; Kochi and Panaji may compound such contraventions below a prescribed monetary threshold, with higher-value cases and all other contraventions referred to CEFA, Mumbai. Applications to compound must be submitted to the relevant Regional Office or to CEFA as applicable.

Commencement of Companies Act accounting provisions applies to financial years commencing on or after the Act's commencement.
Provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 relating to books of account, preparation and filing of financial statements, auditors' reports, Board's report, Schedule II and Schedule III, and the relevant rules came into force on 1 April 2014 and apply to financial years commencing on or after that date; financial years commencing earlier than 1 April 2014 are governed by the Companies Act, 1956.

SEZ approvals: board extends approvals and LoPs, grants in principle and co developer permissions subject to compliance conditions.
The Board of Approval considered numerous SEZ regulatory matters and principally granted time bound extensions of formal approvals and Letters of Permission where progress or justification existed, approved in principle proposals and area increases subject to contiguity and state recommendations, authorized co developers and conditioned developer identity or ownership changes on continuity of obligations, eligibility (including security clearances) and disclosure to revenue authorities, and approved unit relocations and specialized operational permissions subject to tax, customs, technical and continuity safeguards. The BoA also required policy clarification on recycled items and imposed strict export and scope conditions for recycling and worn clothing units.

Satisfaction note requirement: assessing officer must record satisfaction before transferring seized records under section 153C.
Assessing Officers must record a satisfaction note before transmitting seized or obtained records under section 153C, following the Supreme Court's ruling on section 158BD that such a note is a sine qua non and may be prepared at initiation, during assessment, or immediately after assessment of the searched person.

Departmental Litigation Management requires coordinated follow up with standing counsels and timely compliance with stay and pre deposit directions.
The instruction mandates systematic litigation management to address failures in follow up, coordination with Standing Counsels, and compliance with pre deposit and stay orders. Commissioners must implement monitoring and reporting procedures, keep Commissioner (AR) offices informed of developments, ensure departmental representatives are updated, and secure timely briefs and directions to Counsels to prevent delays and reduce blocked revenue.

Monthly Average Asset under Management redefinition requires mutual funds to report Monthly AAUM in prescribed disclosure formats.
Directs that the term Asset under Management (AUM) in the March 24, 2014 circular be read as Monthly Average Asset under Management (Monthly AAUM), and requires that data in Annexures A1 and A2 be reported using Monthly AAUM in place of AUM, altering the basis for mutual fund disclosure reporting.

Registration of organic pulses export contracts required with APEDA; certified documentation and limited term RCAC govern shipment compliance.
Export of organic pulses requires pre shipment registration of contracts with APEDA and certification by APEDA accredited Certification Bodies under the National Programme for Organic Production. Exports must be through Customs EDI ports; applications, sent to APEDA's Cereal Division, must include Scope and Transaction Certificates and processing charges by demand draft/pay order. APEDA issues a Registration cum Allocation Certificate (RCAC) for the contracted quantity which is valid for a limited shipment period, must be returned with shipping documents, is not amendable for buyer and FOB details, and may be extended only once for a further limited period.

ISPM-15 compliance required for wood packaging; customs to inspect shipments and verify certificates before clearance.
Mandatory compliance with ISPM-15 is required for all goods using wood packaging; exporters must present fumigation certification from accredited treatment providers and the Department of Plant Quarantine, Mumbai at checklist presentation. Customs will inspect consignments, verify ISPM-15 marks and certificates, and refer unmarked or dubiously marked consignments to Plant Quarantine authorities for action.

Related party definition clarified: company where director and relatives hold above prescribed share threshold qualifies as related
The Central Government clarifies that where a director or manager is a director of a public company and, together with his relatives, holds more than the prescribed shareholding threshold of its paid-up capital, that public company shall be treated as a related party; the Companies 1st (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2014 takes effect on publication in the Official Gazette.