Deemed Export clarifications: interactive meeting for stakeholder queries; advance notice by email or fax advised.
An interactive stakeholder consultation is convened to address clarifications and grievances concerning Deemed Exports under Chapter 8 of the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14, following discussion by the Policy Interpretation Committee; attendance is limited to deemed export matters, and advance intimation by email or fax will receive priority.

Centralized customs EDI migration mandates ICEGATE electronic filing, central document numbering and compliance with prescribed migration deadlines.
The migration to ICES v1.5 centralizes EDI operations at the CBEC National Data Centre and mandates ICEGATE as the principal filing channel for Bills of Entry, Shipping Bills and IGMs/EGMs, prohibiting submissions via physical media. Document numbers and licence debits will be assigned centrally, creating a common licence ledger and altering local serial continuity. The notice prescribes cut off deadlines for legacy filings to avoid re entry, electronic messaging of duty challans to banks with electronic confirmation, PAN based CHA registration verification, and reallocation of certain Service Centre functions to designated customs officers.

Annual Return on Foreign Liabilities and Assets introduced; companies must report FDI inflows and overseas investments annually.
The circular replaces Part B of Form FC GPR with a Annual Return on Foreign Liabilities and Assets to be submitted by Indian companies that received FDI or made overseas investments, using the prescribed format and definitions in the annexes, and directs AD Category I banks to notify their constituents; regulatory amendments under FEMA will follow.

Line of Credit to foreign government sets Indian supply content, export declaration and FEMA-based procedural conditions.
Exim Bank's Line of Credit to Malawi finances eligible goods, services, machinery and consultancy under India's Foreign Trade Policy, requiring at least 75% of contract value to be supplied from India and permitting up to 25% procurement from outside India (excluding consultancy). The Agreement sets distinct disbursement windows for project and supply contracts. Shipments must be declared on GR/SDF forms; no agency commission is payable under the LOC, though exporters may remit commission from own resources or EEFC balances after realization, subject to prevailing authorisations. The circular is issued under FEMA and without prejudice to other laws.

Drawback prohibition on exports to Nepal: exporters must declare origin on shipping bills and authorities will conduct random checks.
No drawback shall be allowed on goods exported to Nepal if those goods were imported into India from third countries. Exporters claiming drawback must declare on the shipping bill that goods destined for Nepal were not imported from third countries, and field formations shall undertake random verification to confirm the genuineness of such declarations. Public notices and standing orders are to be issued and implementation difficulties reported to the Board.

Factory stuffing permission now permitted for mixed shipments of incentivised and free goods under official supervision.
LoFSP will be issued to a manufacturer exporter who intends to export, in the same container, goods under Export Promotion Schemes together with Free Goods, provided the jurisdictional Central Excise authority supervises the stuffing and the exporter complies with other conditions laid down in existing Public Notices and departmental instructions; Public Notice No.27/2010 is amended accordingly.

Interest recovery on wrongly availed CENVAT credit affirmed; interest attaches from the date of wrongful availment under any qualifying circumstance.
Liability to pay interest arises when CENVAT credit has been wrongly availed, even if not utilized, because the relevant provision is to be read disjunctively: on the happening of any one of the circumstances-credit wrongly taken, wrongly utilized, or erroneously refunded-the credit becomes recoverable along with interest; administrative action is directed to safeguard revenue and inform trade and field formations.

Customs duty collection authorised bank branches now accept payments via EDI-enabled locations for trade use
Specified branches of Indian Bank are authorised to collect customs duty at identified EDI-enabled ICDs and the Air Cargo Complex in the Coimbatore Commissionerate, with each branch and its collection status listed; importers, exporters and CHAs are directed to use these authorised bank facilities for duty payments under the ICES electronic filing framework.

Direct Port Delivery facility expanded to approved importers, subject to eligibility, RMS filing, seal verification and reporting.
Facility authorises Direct Port Delivery to reputed regular importers, PSUs, Defence, government undertakings and EOUs on a selective basis, granted by the Commissioner of Customs on application. Eligibility requires regular importation through Cochin Port, an unblemished three year compliance record, no outstanding duty demands, and assessment of past performance. Operationally DPD applies to FCL containers under RMS or where no examination is required, requires pre arrival Bill of Entry filing and duty payment, seal verification and resealing by Customs when statutory sampling is needed, issuance of a printed signed Out Of Charge subject to seal verification, and transfer to CFS where reassessment or tampering occurs.

Completely Knocked Down units: concessional customs duty denied where pre-assembled engine, gearbox or transmission is imported within the unit.
Clarifies that the post-Budget definition of Completely Knocked Down (CKD) units has two independent disqualification criteria: a unit containing all necessary components remains a CKD for concessional duty, but any unit that contains a pre-assembled engine, gearbox or transmission, or a chassis/body with those components pre-installed at import, is disqualified from CKD treatment and attracts a higher basic customs duty. Standalone imports of pre-assembled engines, gearboxes or transmissions continue to receive the earlier concessional duty treatment.

Easy Exit Scheme clarifications: State undertaking and indemnity bond alternatives enable State PSUs to avail administrative strike off.
Clarification permits a State Government undertaking to the Registrar of Companies that it will not pursue claims against the Registrar if the Registrar strikes off a Government company with outstanding State liabilities; allows an Indemnity Bond from the Deputy Secretary of the Industries Department to satisfy bond requirements for wholly government owned companies lacking a board; directs ROCs to follow the Scheme application procedure and to send lists of companies availing the Scheme to the Chief Secretary so State departments can raise objections within the Scheme's objection period.

Customs bottle seal issuance: advance allocation allowed with requisition, payment and certified gate verification for containers.
Customs bottle seals may be issued in advance upon payment and presentation of a requisition with container details: for direct delivery the Boarding Office will allot seals and certify the requisition with seal and dated signature, and gate personnel will verify seal numbers against that certified requisition; for CFS forwarding the respective CFS Export Superintendent will perform allotment and certification with similar gate verification. Separate registers at the Boarding Office and CFSs must record seal issue and balances with specified columns.

Import regulation for dual-use drugs: compliance with drug-control registration and case-by-case waiver procedures required, affecting clearance timelines.
Import regulation for drugs with dual usage and drug raw materials mandates compliance with registration and Chapter III provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act; blanket exemptions under Schedule D are not available. Waivers of Form 10 registration may be granted only on application to the central drug authority and are examined case-by-case. Customs will strictly enforce the drug-control procedures following a transitional period to address clearance delays and supply disruptions.

Cotton yarn export allocations announced; 50 million kg allocated to 363 firms, export deadline 31 March.
Allocation of 50 million kilograms of cotton yarn is announced with an annexure listing 363 allottees by name, IEC and allocated kilograms; fractional quantities will be rounded when export licences are issued. All allottees must submit the documents specified under the governing policy's procedural requirements to the concerned Regional Authority by the stated submission cutoff to obtain licences, and all prior policy conditions continue to apply except for specified calendar dates; exported shipments under these licences must be completed before the final export deadline.

Export restriction on Sona Masuri rice: consumer-packed exports allowed subject to packing, declaration, sampling and monitoring procedures.
Exports of Sona Masuri rice from Chennai Seaport are permitted only in consumer packs up to 10 kg, subject to a per-IEC quantity ceiling on self-declaration and within the prescribed export period. Customs procedure requires filing the shipping bill, presenting goods at an attached CFS, and drawing samples for laboratory quality testing before granting "Let Export". Earlier-presented goods are cleared first. The Deputy Commissioner (Docks) will monitor daily clearances, intensify oversight as aggregate exports approach the ceiling, issue a closure notice when the limit is exhausted, and publish daily updates on the Custom House website.

Electronic payment requirement for corporate filing fees speeds processing; phased mandate extends compulsory electronic payments to higher-value filings.
To reduce delays from banks' reporting lag for physical challans ('T'+3) versus online payments ('T'+1), the Ministry requires electronic payment of fees for MCA21 services for payments up to the specified threshold effective 27 March 2011. Payments above that threshold may be made electronically or by paper challan until a later date, after which electronic mode becomes mandatory for higher-value payments effective 1 October 2011.

No entry load: mandates segregated load accounts and limits annual use of legacy load balances for marketing expenses.
Prohibition of entry load is mandated and upfront distributor commission must be paid directly by the investor. Exit loads and prior load balances are maintained outside NAV and may fund distributor commissions and marketing. Load balances must be segregated into balances as of July 31, 2009 and accretions thereafter; use of the pre August 1, 2009 balance is capped at one third of that balance per financial year (carry forward permitted), while post July 31, 2009 accretions are unrestricted for these purposes.

Certificate of Origin fee revision: higher issuance fee for FTA and GSP exports effective from April 1, 2011.
Revision of para 2.21.1 replaces the previous clause permitting authorised agencies to charge a DoC-approved fee with a specific enhanced fee for issuance of Certificate of Origin (Preferential) for exports under India's FTAs, PTAs, GSP and GSTP schemes, and states that the enhanced fee applies to applications received with effect from the prescribed implementation date.

SION notified for woollen blended worsted yarn establishing input-output norms under Foreign Trade Policy to regulate export inputs.
Notification of SION J-374 establishes export input-output requirements for Woollen blended Worsted Yarn under the Foreign Trade Policy. For 1 kg of the export product made from Wool Tops and Acrylic Tops, allowed inputs are Wool Tops (below 32 micron) 1.10 kg per kg content in export and Acrylic Tops (up to 3.00 denier) 1.10 kg per kg content in export. This is the first SION for the item and is to be recorded in the Handbook of Procedures (Vol. II).

Bank guarantee periodicity: BG must be filed for a minimum period and kept alive for the full export-obligation term.
The Appendix 25A note is replaced to require the Bond/BG to be filed for a minimum period of three years with an undertaking to keep the BG alive for the entire export-obligation term, thereby harmonising BG validity with customs practice. The BG format is updated to include E-mail ID and phone/fax contact details of the exporter/importer and the bank guarantor.