Removal of trade regulation provision: paragraph deleted from Handbook of Procedure under powers of the Foreign Trade Policy.
The Director General of Foreign Trade, under paragraph 2.4 of the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-2014, issued Public Notice No. 50 dated 28 February 2013 deleting Paragraph 2.33 of the Handbook of Procedure Vol. I, 2009-2014, the deletion being consequent to Notification No. 35 dated 28 February 2013.

Change of SLBC convenor bank: responsibility for Jharkhand moves to Bank of India; incumbent to assist transition.
The circular mandates transfer of SLBC convenor responsibility for Jharkhand to Bank of India effective April 1, 2013, and requires the existing convenor bank to extend necessary support to the new convenor to ensure a smooth transition and continuity of state-level banking coordination.

Beneficial owner identification under PMLA requires verifying natural persons controlling clients, including trusts, with listed company exceptions.
Identification of the beneficial owner under PMLA Rules requires banks and financial institutions to determine and verify the natural person who ultimately owns or controls a client. For non-individual clients, institutions must identify persons exercising control through ownership or, if unclear, by other means; failing that, the senior managing official is identified. For trusts, settlor, trustee, protector, significant beneficiaries and any natural person exercising ultimate control must be identified. Listed companies and their majority-owned subsidiaries need not have shareholders or beneficial owners identified. NBFCs must review KYC policies accordingly.

Tax payment deadline for central excise and service tax requires timely deposit to avoid interest and penalty.
Payment of Central Excise duty and Service Tax for March must be made on or before the last day of the month under the applicable rules; assesses must deposit dues within the prescribed time limit despite intervening public holidays, and failure to pay in time will attract interest and penalty, with Trade Associations and Chambers requested to inform their members.

Know Your Customer obligations require banks to maintain updated risk based customer profiles and robust transaction monitoring.
Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks must implement KYC/AML/CFT measures, establish periodic reviews for risk categorisation, update customer identification data, and maintain customer profiles to enable effective transaction monitoring and prevent use of banking channels for unlawful activity.

Direct bank payment of rebate/refund requires one time authorization and enables NEFT/RTGS credit to claimant bank accounts.
Facility enabling direct payment of rebate and refund amounts to claimant bank accounts replaces cheque issuance; claimants must provide one time authorization, retained by the Refund/Rebate section. Assistant/Deputy Commissioner forwards a signed consolidated statement and cheque to the bank, which credits individual accounts via NEFT/RTGS subject to applicable charges and bank certification of account details.

Revised Return Form ST-3 requires assessees to file the July-September return by the extended deadline and electronically.
Notification introduces the Revised Form ST-3 for assessees to furnish data solely for the period 1 7 2012 to 30 9 2012 and amends the Service Tax Rules to provide an extended last date for filing that return. The revision retains the existing structure but requests service wise data where practicable. The paper form is notified for legality, while rule requires electronic filing; the electronic ACES version may differ in interface and functionality and will be made available on ACES, with the filing deadline to be extended if ACES access is delayed.

Beneficial owner identification required: authorised persons must verify ultimate owners, control tests, and extend duties to agents.
Authorised Persons in money changing activities must identify and verify the beneficial owner of clients by determining the natural person who ultimately owns or controls the client through ownership or other means; where no such person is identifiable, verification must target those exercising control by other means or senior managing officials. Trusts require identification of settlors, trustees, protectors, significant beneficiaries and any natural person exercising ultimate control. Listed companies and their majority owned subsidiaries are exempt from shareholder/beneficial owner identification. Agents and franchisees are bound by the same obligations, and franchisers must ensure their compliance.

Deemed export benefits clarified: ARO supplies get duty drawback and TED refunds; invalidation letter gives TED exemption and AA/DFIA.
Clarification distinguishes benefits for supplies against an Advance Release Order (ARO) and against an invalidation letter substituting for an Advance Authorisation: supplies against an ARO are eligible for refund of duty drawback and refund of Terminal Excise Duty (TED); supplies against an invalidation letter receive an ab initio exemption from TED (no TED refund) and may be covered by issuance of AA/DFIA for intermediate supply.

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity: SEZ guidelines permit approved data and personnel relocation with prescribed approvals and notifications.
Guidelines set a regulatory framework for DR/BCP in IT/ITES SEZs: define qualifying disasters; permit movement of backup data and storage media for non commercial internal DR/BCP without export treatment or commercial invoices while requiring records and duty on media; require SEZ unit approval from the Development Commissioner for DRC/BCP sites with specified infrastructure, 48 hour notification on activation, initial 90 day relocation validity extendable by DC, and coordination between DCs. Third party DR/BCP offered commercially by SEZ units is treated as NFE earning activity.

Trade credit usance limit for precious and semi-precious stones set to short-term from shipment; AD banks must enforce.
Suppliers' and Buyers' Credit including the usance period of Letters of Credit for import of precious and semi precious stones shall not exceed ninety days from the date of shipment, with immediate effect; AD Category I banks must apply the limit and inform their constituents, while prior instructions on related metal and diamond imports remain unaffected.

Show Cause Notice requirement: failure to issue within stipulated time leads to unconditional restoration of seized goods unless extension granted.
Issue the Show Cause Notice to the owner of seized goods within the prescribed seizure inquiry period or within any lawfully extended period; the Commissioner may extend time only if satisfied that sufficient cause exists and the total period remains within statutory limits, with the burden of proof on the Customs officer. Provisional release does not obviate the need to issue the notice, and failure to do so entitles restoration. Investigating officers must expedite investigations, submit draft notices, report pendency, and ensure compliance to protect revenue.

Gold ETF investment in bank Gold Deposit Schemes allowed, subject to policy approval and capped limits under SEBI guidelines.
SEBI designates Gold Deposit Scheme (GDS) of banks as a permitted gold related instrument for Gold ETFs, subject to: a cap of 20% of scheme assets for investment in GDS; a written AMC/trustee approved policy requiring prior trustee approval for each GDS investment and annual policy review; and a requirement that bank issued gold certificates be held only in dematerialised form.

Gold Deposit Scheme expansion allows mutual funds and gold ETFs to deposit qualifying physical gold under modified operational rules.
The Gold Deposit Scheme is amended to allow Mutual Funds and Gold ETFs to deposit physical gold, to recognise dematerialised Gold Certificates transferable under depository rules, to exempt LBMA compliant gold from destructive assay when accompanied by acceptable certification, to permit Trusts as depositors, to change deposit maturities to six months through seven years, and to require banks to inform RBI and report consolidated monthly mobilisation and deployment using the prescribed annexure.

Periodic call auction mandated for illiquid securities, with defined session mechanics and penalties to protect market integrity.
Trading in identified illiquid scrips must occur only through periodic call auction sessions with quarterly identification, two trading days' notice for entry or exit, a minimum period before exit, hourly sessions with specified windows for order entry and matching, purging of unmatched orders, intraday price bands subject to tightening for surveillance, circuit-breaker cancellation and resumption rules, and a penalty regime for self-matching collected into an investor protection fund.

Brand Rate documentation: exporters must submit sanction letters or attested application and declaration or risk disposal of claims.
A large number of Brand Rate Drawback shipping bills are pending for want of Brand Rate sanction/fixation orders; lists are published on the Commissionerate website. Exporters/CHAs must submit either the Brand Rate sanction/fixation letters issued by jurisdictional Central Excise Commissionerates or, if not yet sanctioned, the application filed with Central Excise plus a self-declaration that the brand rate is not fixed, both attested by the jurisdictional DC/AC. Failure to submit the required documents by the deadline will result in the pending claims being disposed of as not pursued.

Procurement Certificate requirement will replace Block Transfer Certificates for EOU imports, standardising clearance and improving reconciliation.
Imports under the EOU scheme will be allowed only on production of Procurement Certificates and the system of Block Transfer Certificates shall be discontinued; no fresh Block Transfer Certificates will be registered, already registered bonds may be utilised in full, and Re warehousing Certificates must be submitted within the specified transition period to enable re crediting of entries.

Electronic tax payment mandated; banks must facilitate third party cash or cheque deposits and submit online challans.
All registered dealers and TAN holders must pay tax, interest, penalty and other dues under the DVAT Act, 2004 and CST Act via electronic e payment portals of notified banks. Notified banks are authorised and directed to act as third party facilitators for dealers lacking internet banking or unwilling to use it: banks may accept cash or cheque, fill the online challan on behalf of the dealer and deposit the funds online from a bank account, and may charge a service fee.

Suspicious Transaction Report handling: establishes standardized procedures for assignment, verification, investigation and reporting under income tax administration.
SOP requires maintaining an electronic searchable register of STRs with specified fields and mandates transfer of STRs to jurisdictional DITs within a prescribed short period; DITs must check prior STR history, assign related STRs to the same Addl/Joint DIT, and Addl/Joint DITs must triage, assign investigations, segregate search fit cases, and complete assignment steps within the prescribed timeframe while using internal databases for verification before issuing summons or notices.

Electronic payment requirement mandates dealers use e payment portals; banks may accept cash/cheque and submit online for them.
Registered dealers and contractees must pay tax, interest, penalty and other dues exclusively via electronic payment portals of notified banks. Notified banks may act as third party facilitators for dealers without internet banking by accepting cash/cheque, filling the online challan on the dealer's behalf and depositing funds from a dummy account, with nominal service charges permitted. Banks cannot correct wrongly entered challans; corrections will be made by the Department only on dealer application supported by a bank certificate.