AIR duty Drawback data request: Central Excise must supply export input and invoice data by 15 April 2015.
Commissionerates must collect and forward, by 15 April 2015, export product wise Annexure 1 data for selected representative manufacturers (small, medium, large) covering January-March 2015, including quantities, FOB and assessable values, detailed major input breakdowns (locally procured and imported), duty paying document status, input services and total tax paid, together with supporting Bills of Entry, Shipping Bills and invoices; legible hard copy wholesale invoices for goods listed in Annexure 3 for January-March 2015 must also be submitted.

Duty of CIT to assist Departmental Counsel ensures prompt instructions, briefings, and coordination in appellate litigation.
The circular reiterates that the CIT bears responsibility to ensure prompt assistance to Departmental Counsel: attend to requests for instructions or clarifications, brief counsel, provide scrutiny reports for High Court appeals, and personally involve in cases with intricate factual or legal issues or significant revenue stakes. It further mandates a High Court Cell at each station to obtain daily particulars of cases heard from Standing Counsel and promptly transmit summaries to the concerned CIT, with adverse notice against officers for non-compliance.

Customs data request for AIR duty drawback: submit bills of entry and shipping bills for specified goods by 15 April.
Customs formations must send legible, complete hard copies of selected bills of entry for imports of goods in Annexure A (commercial quantities, Jan-Mar 2015) and selected shipping bills for exports of goods in Annexure B to which LEO was granted (Jan-Mar 2015) where AIR drawback is claimed (standalone or with other schemes), with submissions due by 15 April 2015; suggestions with justification for the AIR drawback exercise are invited.

Processing of time-barred returns via Online TMS enables AOs to address PAN-related system failures under defined conditions.
Two distinct Online TMS workflows permit Assessing Officers to process time barred returns that cannot be handled in AST due to PAN-related system issues. Category 1 covers genuine PAN cases with technical or jurisdictional impediments and allows online tax credit and later integration into AST by the PAN jurisdiction AO after deletion from AST. Category 2 covers invalid or mismatched PANs, disallows online tax credits and refunds, retains processing data in standalone form, and requires the AO to record reasons and attempt PAN correction.

Pre-shipment inspection agency delisting removes recognition and prohibits issuance of pre-shipment inspection certificates by the agency.
A Pre-Shipment Inspection Agency's recognition was cancelled following allegations of mis-declaration and concealment in its application; consequently the Directorate exercised powers under the Foreign Trade Policy to amend Appendix 5 by deleting the agency's entry and rendering it ineligible to issue Pre-Shipment Inspection Certificates.

Authorisation for hearing objections: Special OHA designated for 2A-2B mismatch and assistant commissioners' postings revised.
The circular authorises Sh. Biju Raj E, Assistant Commissioner (Ward-206), as Special OHA to hear objections on the 2A-2B mismatch for 2012-13 in respect of Wards 201 and 206, replacing the transferred officer; it also revises the places of posting for Sh. Sanjay Jain and Sh. Dinesh Kumar Gondyan as reflected in the annexure, while all other contents of Circular No.27 of 2014-15 remain unchanged.

Data migration integrity: correct AIS Old AO flags and hierarchy to enable ITBA rollout and refund banker configuration.
ITBA will replace the legacy ITD application, expanding coverage to all departmental functions via single sign on and role based access; accurate AIS data is required. Identified defects include Old AO flagging errors, incomplete or inaccurate hierarchies, and refund banker misconfigurations. RCCs must update the supplied "AIS_Verification.xls" to mark AO Type as Current or Old, populate destination AO fields, flag old AOs in AIS, assign employee IDs, complete hierarchy entries, update Refund Banker Requirement, submit jurisdiction orders for uniformity, and send refund banker enablement requests to DIT(S)-2 to permit Directorate of Systems to finalise configurations for ITBA rollout.

Time-barred return processing: limited online TMS allows constrained handling when PANs are absent or invalid.
Online TMS (category 2) permits limited processing of time-barred returns for foreign technicians where PAN is absent, invalid, or name mismatch exists; it disallows system crediting of TDS and OLTAS challans and precludes refunds for cases without valid PANs. Use requires the Assessing Officer to record the compelling reason and to have initiated communication to obtain or correct PAN data; standalone TMS remains available for other contingent cases.

Discontinuation of Stat 5 and Stat 8 returns: banks must use XBRL for NRD-CSR reporting and stop manual filings.
Banks maintaining NRD accounts must discontinue submission of Stat 5 and Stat 8 Returns from March 2015 and stop sending both hard and soft copies to the Department of Statistics and Information Management. NRD-CSR reporting has been migrated to and stabilised on the XBRL platform, which will be the operative mechanism for NRD data submission. The direction is issued under FEMA statutory authority and is without prejudice to permissions or approvals required under other laws.

Line of Credit terms: Exim Bank export credit requires minimum Indian content, EDF/SDF declaration, and commission limits.
Exim Bank's Line of Credit to Banco Exterior De Cuba finances modernization of an injectable product plant subject to eligibility under India's Foreign Trade Policy and FEMA directions. The LOC mandates that at least 75 percent of contract value for goods and services be supplied from India, with up to 25 percent procured externally. It prescribes time limits for opening Letters of Credit and disbursement, requires EDF/SDF declaration of shipments, disallows agency commission under the LOC while permitting exporters to pay commissions from their own resources or EEFC balances subject to realization and remittance rules, and directs AD Category-I banks to inform exporters.

Designated Director requirement clarified: NBFCs may appoint a senior management officer but not the Principal Officer.
NBFCs must nominate a Designated Director to ensure compliance under the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2012; the nominee may be a board Director or a senior management officer or equivalent, but the Principal Officer must not be nominated as the Designated Director.

Re-export of warehoused goods: procedure requires NOC, shipping bill filing, assessment and bond cancellation upon export.
Re-export requires the bonder-exporter to apply to the Import Bond Section, which verifies stock and may grant permission conditioned on foreign exchange realisation and lawful original import. A provisional bond register entry is made and permission is sent to the Export Section and warehouse bond officer. The exporter files a Shipping Bill for assessment; after assessment the Bond Superintendent authorises removal, the warehouse officer records Shipping Bill and quantity and allows movement to port. Post-examination, final Shipping Bill and documents are returned for bond cancellation or debit.

Currency carriage limits expanded, governing how residents and visitors may carry Indian notes on air entry and exit.
Regulation prescribes per person limits on carrying Indian Government and Reserve Bank currency notes: residents may take out of India or bring into India on return currency notes up to the prescribed limit; nonresidents visiting India (excluding certain nationalities and routes) may carry Indian currency notes into and out of India only via airports and only up to the prescribed limit. Exclusions apply for travel involving Nepal and Bhutan and differentiated treatment for Pakistan and Bangladesh.

FDI in construction development: clarified rules on minimum capitalization, project commencement, trunk-infrastructure and exit/transfer protocols.
Minimum capitalization is a project-specific threshold: FDI cannot be brought into a project unless the required minimum capitalization is achieved within six months of project commencement, defined as the statutory approval date of the building/layout plan; later FDI is permitted if capitalization is met. Exit before completion requires FIPB approval; automatic exit is allowed upon project completion or upon development of defined trunk infrastructure certified by a Council of Architecture-registered architect. NR-to-NR transfers prior to completion require FIPB approval; completed projects may host foreign investors for operation and management subject to the real estate business exclusion.

Refund caging prevents PAN migration; AOs may block refunds or complete caging to enable PAN transfer.
Non-migration of PANs due to pending refund caging is addressed by procedural rules permitting PAN migration where active AOs either complete caging after verification or block refunds via the AST "Block Refund" function; refunds blocked by originating AOs under the confirmation procedure remain blocked and cannot be unblocked by destination AOs, while refunds blocked after verification of non-existence of manual refunds may be unblocked by the destination AO after due verification and completion of caging. OLD-flagged AOs or inactive AOs follow migration rules that transfer pending caging to destination AOs for completion.

Delegation of hearing authority: Assistant Commissioner reassigned to hear objections on purchase-sales reconciliation, replacing prior assignee.
Authorises a named Assistant Commissioner to serve as Special Officer for Hearing Assignments to hear objections relating to a purchase-sales reconciliation mismatch for the specified ward, replacing the initially assigned Assistant Commissioner; all other terms and procedures of the earlier circular remain unchanged.

Show Cause Notice standards tightened to ensure only legally sustainable notices and timely, high-quality adjudication.
Reinforce standards for issuance and adjudication of Show Cause Notices: SCNs must follow thorough factual and legal examination, state cogent sustainable grounds supported by law and precedent; adjudicating orders should be quality-checked, issued within prescribed timeframes, and follow judicial discipline; threshold limits for appeals must be applied scrupulously, and field-level litigation monitoring established to prevent delays and unnecessary litigation.

Prohibition on property acquisition by specified foreign citizens now includes Macau and Hong Kong, requiring RBI permission for transfers.
Prohibition on acquisition or transfer of immovable property by citizens of specified jurisdictions is extended to include Macau and Hong Kong; such persons cannot acquire or transfer immovable property in India, other than leases not exceeding five years, without prior permission of the Reserve Bank under Regulation 7 of the Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and Transfer of immovable property in India) Regulations, 2000, as amended by the 2015 notification.

Re-export permissions delegated to adjudicating customs officers to expedite resolution of mistakenly imported goods.
Permission for the re-export of goods inadvertently imported may be granted on merit by the concerned Customs officer acting within adjudication powers, modifying Circular No.100/2003-Cus.; implementation is to follow the adjudication framework in Section 122 of the Customs Act and Circular No.24/2011-Cus., to expedite decisions and reduce delays in cases of bonafide mistaken imports.

Merged commercial invoice and packing list permitted, simplifying customs documentation while preserving option to submit separate packing list.
A commercial invoice cum packing list will be accepted for Customs purposes if it includes invoice details plus packing-specific fields: description of goods, marks and numbers, quantity, gross weight, net weight, number of packages and types of packages; Customs will not insist on a separate packing list when those fields are present, though traders may still submit a separate packing list if they wish.