Relaxation of SEBI compliance timelines for debt and money market issuers extends filing and issuance deadlines to ease COVID 19 disruptions.
SEBI temporarily relaxes compliance timelines for issuers of NCDs, NCRPS, CPs and Municipal Debt Securities, permitting reliance on audited financials as of the specified cutoff or filing unaudited financials with limited review for stub periods, and extends due dates for periodic LODR filings (including Large Corporate disclosures and Regulation 52 financial results) and ILDM prescribed filings; these extensions are effective immediately and stock exchanges must disseminate the circular.

Encumbrance on REIT units requires re-designation of sponsor before invocation and mandates prompt exchange disclosure.
Encumbrance on REIT units may be created during the mandatory sponsor holding period but agreements must include the circular's creation and invocation conditions. Invocation during the mandatory period is permitted only if the invoker causes itself or its nominee to be re-designated as sponsor (unless already in sponsor group) and the re-designated sponsor fulfils sponsor obligations. Sponsors must notify the REIT manager of encumbrance creation within two working days and report any subsequent changes; the REIT must disclose these details to listed exchanges within two working days. The unit holding pattern disclosure is modified to capture mandatory holdings and encumbered units.

Encumbrance on InvIT sponsor units: creation allowed but invocation barred during mandatory holding; prompt disclosure required.
Sponsors may create encumbrance on units they are required to hold, provided the encumbrance agreement includes the circular's creation and invocation conditions and the encumbrance is not invoked during the mandatory holding period. Sponsors must notify the InvIT's investment manager of creation, release, invocation or other changes within two working days; thereafter the InvIT must disclose the information to stock exchanges within two working days. The unit holding pattern disclosure is amended to record sponsor encumbrance details, and Annexure I specifies required fields.

Compliance deadline extension for REITs and InvITs relaxing regulatory filing timelines in view of the pandemic.
Extension of regulatory filing timelines for REITs and InvITs by one month for compliances due for the period ending March 31, 2020, as a temporary relaxation in view of the COVID 19 pandemic; the circular takes immediate effect and requires stock exchanges to notify and disseminate the extension to affected entities.

GST appellate procedure requires first appeals to proceed despite tribunal non-constitution, with tribunal limitation deferred until leadership assumes office.
Appeals against adjudicating authority orders must be filed before the prescribed Appellate Authority within three months. Orders of Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners and State Tax Officers lie to the Joint Commissioner (Appeals), while Joint Commissioner orders lie to the Additional Commissioner (Appeals). Non-constitution of the Appellate Tribunal does not justify keeping first appeals pending. Tribunal appeal limitation runs from the later of communication of the appellate order or the date the Tribunal President or State President enters office.

Extension of due date for filing income-tax returns and tax audit reports, with late filings deemed timely.
Extension of the due-date for filing income-tax returns and tax audit reports for all categories of assessees in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh is extended to 31st March 2020 under powers conferred by the Income-tax Act. Returns and tax audit reports filed after 31st January 2020 until issuance of the order are deemed to have been filed within the due date specified under section 139(1) read with earlier CBDT orders.

Insolvency proceedings reshape GST compliance: registration, first return procedure, and transitional input tax credit rules clarified.
Pre CIRP GST liabilities are to be treated as operational debt and pursued by filing claims before the insolvency tribunal; no coercive action should be taken against the corporate debtor. GST registration of an entity under CIRP must not be cancelled and may be suspended or revoked if previously cancelled. The IRP/RP need not file pre CIRP returns but must obtain new registration as a distinct person, comply with GST obligations during CIRP, file the first return, and may avail input tax credit in that first return for invoices bearing the erstwhile GSTIN under the special procedure. Amounts deposited in the erstwhile cash ledger by IRP/RP during the transition are refundable.

Apportionment of input tax credit clarified: state-level asset ratio determines transferable ITC on business reorganisations and demergers.
Clarification explains that apportionment of unutilized input tax credit on demergers and other partial business reorganisations is to be done by applying the asset-value ratio specified in the scheme at the State registration level. The asset ratio covers the entire business assets whether ITC was claimed, applies to the aggregate ITC balance (CGST, SGST/UTGST, IGST and Cess), and is to be applied to the ITC balance in the electronic credit ledger on the date of filing FORM GST ITC-02. Filing is required only where both transferor and transferee are registered in the State.

Appeal to Appellate Tribunal: limitation period begins when the Tribunal President or State President assumes office, affecting filings.
Appeals from adjudicating authorities must follow the prescribed hierarchical appellate forum; appeals from appellate authorities lie to the Appellate Tribunal. Where the Tribunal is not constituted, the limitation for filing to the Tribunal is computed from the date the President or State President assumes office per the Removal of Difficulties Order. Appellate orders should state that appeals may be filed within the prescribed period from that date, and appellate authorities should dispose pending appeals expeditiously.

CSR funding eligibility for COVID-19 permits health and disaster management spending under Schedule VII, interpreted broadly.
Spending of CSR funds for activities related to COVID-19 is eligible under Schedule VII, permitting use for promotion of health care, including preventive health care and sanitation, and for disaster management; items in Schedule VII are to be interpreted liberally for this purpose, consistent with prior circular guidance, and the clarification is issued with competent authority approval.

Acceptance of scanned Bills of Entry enables provisional air cargo clearance to SEZs during lockdown under specified reconciliation conditions.
Scanned duplicate and quadruplicate copies of Bills of Entry, sent by the SEZ assessing officer's official e-mail to the specified Superintendent of Customs e-mail, will be accepted to grant provisional Out of Charge clearance from Delhi Air Cargo to SEZs during lockdown; assessing officers must include Custom Broker details and their mobile number. Hard copies must be submitted within fifteen days of lockdown lifting, and the Deputy Commissioner will record OOCs granted on scanned copies and reconcile with hard copies within twenty-one days thereafter.

Preventive workplace measures for infection control: entry screening, visitor restrictions, sanitization, remote meetings and staff rotation.
Immediate preventive steps across Pune Customs include entry screening with thermal scanners, mandatory hand sanitizer at entrances, strict limitation of visitor access with suspension of routine temporary passes, promotion of video conferencing and avoidance of non essential travel, minimization of physical file movement with use of official email, delivery/receipt of dak at building entry, frequent cleaning and sanitization of high touch surfaces, ensuring supply of soap and running water, self monitoring for respiratory symptoms and adherence to home quarantine guidance; high risk employees are advised to take extra precautions and essential services must continue.

De-notification of inland container depot shifts customs clearance to the new ICD and mandates relocation of EDI and containers.
Relocation of customs operations requires discontinuation of Babarpur ICD code, shutdown and transfer of the EDI system and customs assets to ICD Barhi, and closure of Babarpur for customs functions; all fresh imports and exports and customs clearance activities will be carried out at ICD Barhi, while CONCOR will shift pending, in progress and seized containers to the new ICD at its own cost.

Indian Customs EDI system ICES 1.5 implemented at ICD Barhi to enable electronic processing of import and export clearances.
Launch of Indian Customs EDI System (ICES 1.5) at Inland Container Depot Barhi from 25 March 2020 for computerized processing of Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills. The application, developed by NIC and integrated by M/s TCS, is hosted at the National Data Centre with CBEC VPN connectivity and BSNL internet. Pre production testing and HCCAR, 2009 formalities are complete. Punjab National Bank, Barhi is the designated bank for drawback disbursal and duty/cess collection. Standard procedures of other Customs Divisions apply and helpdesk, toll free support and designated officials are available for grievance redressal.

Imported toys require random NABL testing; provisional clearance allowed only with a No Use Undertaking until test results confirm compliance.
Imported toys are to be provisionally cleared only after representative random samples are drawn and sent to nominated NABL accredited laboratories; importers seeking early release must furnish a No Use Undertaking not to market goods until successful testing, upload the accepted undertaking to the electronic file, and submit test reports within the stipulated timeframe; conforming reports lead to cancellation of the undertaking, while failing samples require return, re export, or destruction at the importer's cost.

Rebate of state and central taxes and levies: RoSCTL in ICES requires electronic DGFT scrip transmission and portal verification.
Operationalisation of the RoSCTL scheme in ICES implements electronically issued DGFT scrips transmitted to ICEGATE with registration enabled in the Licence Management APR role. RoSCTL scrips must be registered in ICES only when transmitted electronically; manual registration is prohibited. Scrips are paperless and transferable, ownership is verified via the DGFT portal when used for import duty payment, and the same checks and balances as MEIS apply.

Export permission for restricted formulations under advance licences issued before the notification allowed, with no quantity enhancement permitted.
Permission allows export of formulations derived from restricted APIs under existing Advance Licences issued before the Notification, limited to ITCHS headings under Chapter 30, with no enhancement of quantities permitted for import or export items in those licences.

Export restriction limited to specified API descriptions; SEZ units and other differently described items under same HS codes exempt.
Exports from SEZ units are exempt from the restriction and permitted to export the specified APIs and formulations. The restriction applies only to the particular item descriptions listed against each ITC (HS) code; other items under the same HS codes with different descriptions are allowed for export.

SEZ shareholding change approvals require continuity, eligibility checks, tax compliance and disclosure to revenue authorities.
The Board approved changes in developer/co-developer shareholding and name subject to seamless continuity of SEZ activities, fulfilment of eligibility and security clearances, compliance with Revenue/Company Affairs/SEBI rules on capital gains and transfers, immediate furnishing of full financial details to the Department of Revenue/CBDT and jurisdictional authority, provision of PAN and assessing officer details to CBDT, and recognition of the Assessing Officer's right to assess taxability and deductions under the Income Tax Act. Applicants must also comply with relevant State laws including land lease provisions.

Online delivery of valuation education permitted temporarily for registered valuer organisations, relaxing classroom delivery requirement.
Rule 12 of the Companies (Registered Valuers and Valuation) Rules, 2017 requires RVOs to deliver educational courses and continuing education per the Authority syllabus, previously specified as not less than fifty classroom hours. Due to COVID 19 advisories, the Authority permits that educational courses completed online and continuing education undertaken online by Registered Valuer Organisations be treated as valid and encourages RVOs to deliver these programmes online. The dispensation is available until 30th September 2020.