Qualified Depository Participant eligibility revised - new criteria and five working day fund retention for QFI investments.
Revised eligibility for a SEBI-registered Depository Participant to act as a qualified Depository Participant requires minimum net worth of Rs. 50 crore; status as a clearing bank or clearing member; appropriate receipt/remittance arrangements with an Authorised Dealer Category I bank; systems to comply with FATF and PMLA requirements and SEBI circulars; and prior SEBI approval before opening QFI accounts. The circular also sets the maximum retention period for QFI funds in the single rupee pooled account and for dividend remittances at five working days, permitting use of credited dividends for fresh mutual fund purchases within that period.

Leverage ratio certification required: banks must certify IFC leverage when forwarding ECB proposals under the approval route.
Authorised Dealer Category I banks must certify the leverage ratio (outside liabilities/owned funds) of Infrastructure Finance Companies seeking ECBs under the approval route when forwarding proposals to the Reserve Bank. IFCs may obtain ECBs up to fifty per cent of owned funds under the automatic route; amounts above that require approval. ECB proceeds must be for on lending to infrastructure and IFCs must fully hedge currency risk; other ECB conditions remain unchanged.

External Commercial Borrowings: delegated approval for LRN cancellations and permissible end use changes, subject to compliance and reporting.
Designated Authorised Dealer Category I banks are empowered to cancel Loan Registration Numbers with DSIM where no drawdown has occurred and ECB 2 returns are submitted, and to approve end use changes for ECBs under the automatic route provided the new end use is permissible, other ECB terms remain unchanged, the ECB complies with guidelines, and ECB 2 returns are upto date; monitoring and reporting to DSIM in Form 83 remain required and approval route end use changes continue to be referred to the RBI Foreign Exchange Department.

SEZ approvals and co developer conditions require disclosed lease terms, separate DTA accounting, and revenue tax scrutiny rights.
The Board granted and managed SEZ formal approvals, co-developer statuses, authorized operations, and extensions subject to state recommendations, land possession, environmental clearances and required lease/co developer agreements. Co-developer approvals require disclosure of financial arrangements and separate accounting for DTA transactions and do not constrain revenue authorities from examining taxability; assessing officers retain rights to assess tax under applicable laws. Extensions and transfers were conditionally granted with directions to furnish full financial details to revenue authorities and to maintain continuity and eligibility compliance.

Cost audit requirement obliges covered companies in specified industries to obtain cost audits and file prescribed cost audit reports.
Companies subject to the Companies (Cost Accounting Records) Rules, 2011 and engaged in the listed industries must, for each financial year commencing on or after 1 April 2012, have their cost accounting records audited by a cost auditor holding a valid certificate of practice; appointment must follow MCA General Circular No. 15/2011 and the cost auditor must prepare and forward the cost audit report in the format and timeframe prescribed by the Companies (Cost Audit Report) Rules, 2011.

Return filing extension: online and hard-copy VAT deadlines extended; tax deposit rules and late-payment penalties remain applicable.
The circular extends the deadlines for online submission and for submission of hard-copy VAT/CST returns for the third quarter of 2012-13, while reiterating that taxpayers must deposit tax for the period in accordance with the statutory deposit obligation and that penalty and interest on late deposit remain applicable.

Filing deadline extension for VAT returns; procedural dates extended while tax deposit obligations and penalties remain enforceable.
The authority extended the deadline for online filing of DVAT/CST returns for December 2011 and the third quarter 2011-12 and also extended the deadline for filing hard-copy returns. Notwithstanding these procedural extensions, the obligation to deposit tax for those periods remains governed by the DVAT statutory deposit provision and penalties for late deposit will be imposed as applicable.

Conversion into Limited Liability Partnership requires name approval and ICAI registration while preserving firm seniority and ethics.
Conversion of practising Cost Accountant firms into Limited Liability Partnership mandates compliance with LLP statutory conversion procedures and Institute guidelines: name approval (use of 'Cost Accountant' in proposed names referred to the Institute), submission of ICAI application with Registrar name registration evidence, reservation of existing firm names as LLP options, preservation of firm seniority and assignment of a registration number aligned to the former Firm Registration Number, adherence to approved LLP name formats, and continued applicability of professional scope and the Institute's Code of Ethics; conversion does not create new privileges.

Composition of arbitration committees: trading member representation prohibited; exchanges must amend bylaws and report implementation.
Arbitration committee composition is revised so that the arbitration committee/panel of all stock exchanges shall not comprise any trading members. Exchanges must amend their bye laws, notify and disseminate the change to members and on their websites, and communicate implementation status in Monthly Development Reports; the circular takes effect immediately under regulatory statutory powers to protect investor interests.

Investor grievance redressal mechanism mandated, requiring independent committees and expanded investor service centres for improved investor protection.
SEBI mandates establishment of Investor Grievance Redressal Committees (IGRC) at investor service centres for specified exchanges, prescribing single-member panels for smaller claims and three-member panels for larger claims with at least one technical expert; members must be independent, meet specified professional qualifications, comply with disclosure and code of conduct requirements, and exchanges with nationwide terminals must expand investor service centres and report progress to SEBI monthly.

Trade controls for IPO trading: first-day post-call-auction price bands and TFT trading enforced in normal session
SEBI requires normal trading for IPO and re listed scrips on the first trading day to commence only after the Call Auction, with first day price bands set by issue size and anchored to the Call Auction equilibrium price or the issue price if no equilibrium is discovered. IPO and re listed scrips must trade in the TFT segment for the first ten days; re listed scrips that yield no equilibrium price in the Call Auction must continue in Call Auction sessions until price determination. Exchanges must implement systems, amend rules, disseminate the measures and report implementation to SEBI.

Call auction in pre-open session extended to IPOs and re-listed scrips, with order restrictions and risk-management checks enforced.
SEBI requires a 60-minute pre-open session call auction on the first trading day for IPO and specified re-listed scrips: order entry, order matching and buffer phases; market orders are prohibited and no price bands apply; matched orders follow existing order-matching and risk-management rules; unmatched IPO orders move to normal trading at limit price while unmatched re-listed orders are either moved or cancelled depending on equilibrium price discovery.

Small savings interest alignment with government securities plus spreads, but investment rates remain fixed until maturity.
Interest rates for small savings schemes are aligned to government securities yields with prescribed spreads and annually notified; except for PPF, the rate applicable to an investment made on a given date remains fixed for the entire tenure of that investment and is not altered by later revisions.

External commercial borrowings and trade credits consolidated rules specify eligibility, recognised lenders, amounts, maturities, and automatic route.
This Master Circular consolidates RBI instructions under the Foreign Exchange Management framework on external commercial borrowings and trade credits for residents, specifying eligibility criteria, recognised lenders, amount and maturity parameters and classification under the automatic route, with underlying circulars listed in an appendix and consolidation effective up to January 5, 2012.

E-payment of Customs Duties authorised through specified banks via ICEGATE; adopt e-payment now as it will become mandatory soon.
Banks authorised to collect customs duty by electronic payment under the Indian Customs EDI system (ICES) are prescribed effective 16.01.2012; users may pay duties via ICEGATE through any of these banks for all customs locations, the facility is available without extra cost, aims to reduce transaction cost and expedite clearance, and is being moved toward mandatory use, with trade asked to switch to e-payment immediately.

Compounding of FEMA contraventions enables voluntary settlement subject to assessment, hearing, and payment obligations.
Compounding under FEMA, 1999 is a voluntary settlement process administered primarily by the Reserve Bank, with the Directorate of Enforcement handling a limited excluded category; applicants must file a prescribed form with supporting documents and fee, the Compounding Authority will assess compoundability and quantify the sum considering gain, loss, economic benefit, repetition and disclosure, hold hearings, and conclude proceedings within the statutory timeframe; payment of the compounded sum by demand draft is required within the specified period and failure to pay invalidates the application, while serious cases may be referred to investigative agencies.

Clean Energy Cess accounting guidance requires provisional booking under Customs receipt awaiting transfer pending new head of account.
Clean Energy Cess on imported coal and coke must be provisionally booked under the Customs Major Head as "Receipt Awaiting Transfer to the other Minor Head" using reduced accounting code 0037 00 34 (Customs); Pay & Accounts Officers must keep separate records for later transfer to the new head of account and notify Commissioners to issue trade/publicity notices to assessees.

Inspection and certified copy fee revisions update procedural charges and rescind the prior fee order with savings.
Under Regulations 29 and 30 of the Company Law Board Regulations the Board revised the fee for inspection of case documents and the fee for supply of certified copies by notification dated 18th January, 2012, and implemented by order dated 19th January, 2012. The Board rescinded its Order No. 1/10/88-CLV/CLB/Admn/90 dated 4th June, 1991, subject to a savings provision preserving actions or omissions taken under the earlier order prior to the notification.

Designation of CPIO under RTI Act institutes revised officers and appellate authorities for Service Tax Commissionerate, New Delhi.
Designation of the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) and Appellate Authorities for the Service Tax Commissionerate, New Delhi is revised to implement obligations under the Right to Information Act, 2005, pursuant to section 5(1) and 5(2). The changes reflect the Commissionerate's jurisdiction under Notification No. 4/02/2004-ST and are effective immediately, reallocating administrative responsibility for RTI requests and appeals within the Commissionerate.

Certificate authority for additional customs duty refund expanded to include cost accountants and statutory auditors.
The Board amended its Circular to authorize statutory auditors, cost accountants and chartered accountants to issue the certificate required for refund of additional customs duty, confirming correlation of VAT/ST with sales invoices and that the duty burden was not passed to buyers; specified paragraphs of the prior Circular are modified to permit preliminary sanction of refund on scrutiny of documents and such certification.