External Commercial Borrowings end-use relaxation permits ECBs for working capital and rupee loan repayment subject to maturity.
External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) end use restrictions are relaxed: ECBs of minimum average maturity ten years permitted for working capital and general corporate purposes (including NBFC on lending); ECBs of minimum average maturity seven years permitted for repayment of rupee loans used for capital expenditure (including NBFC on lending), while repayment of rupee loans for non capital purposes requires ten year ECBs. SMA 2/NPA rupee loans in manufacturing and infrastructure may be repaid under one time settlement and assigned to eligible ECB lenders, subject to all in cost, maturity and other ECB norms.

Denatured ethyl alcohol import rules changed to restricted; ANF-2M licence required with proforma and DGFT issues AU licences.
Import policy for denatured ethyl alcohol changed from Free to Restricted; prospective importers must apply in ANF-2M and submit the enclosed proforma with the online application. DGFT will issue licences on an AU basis without further consultation with the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. The proforma/annexure requires input-output norms and reporting of opening/closing balances, domestic production/procurement, imports, usage in end products, disposal mode, and applicant identification.

Private bonded warehouse permissions under Section 65: integrated application, recordkeeping, bond format, and operational duty rules.
Prescribes a unified application and procedural framework for private bonded warehouses and manufacturing under Section 65 of the Customs Act, 1962, integrating approvals under Section 58 and Section 65, mandating specified recordkeeping (Annexure B), a triple duty bond format (Annexure C) under Section 59, designation of the jurisdictional Commissioner as single authority, and operational rules allowing duty free import of inputs, zero rating on exports, duty on domestic clearance, and detailed security, fire safety and IT compliance requirements.

Export obligation monitoring requires payment of duty with interest and bond recovery when discharge proof is not produced post-expiry.
License holders under EPCG and Advance Authorization must produce EODC within prescribed periods; failure to discharge block-wise export obligations renders the proportional duty on the unfulfilled portion, with interest, immediately payable and recoverable. Customs may enforce bonds, bank guarantees or corporate guarantees, detain and sell goods under customs control, and issue simple notices for proof of discharge; matters where a licensee has applied to the granting authority for EODC may be kept in abeyance, but absent proof recovery action must be initiated without awaiting adjudication.

Airport retail outlets can claim invoice based refunds on indigenous goods sold tax free to outgoing international tourists.
Retail outlets beyond airport immigration may claim invoice based refunds of taxes paid on inward supplies of indigenous goods supplied to eligible outgoing international tourists; refunds exclude input services and require GST registration, maintenance of electronic records with an audit trail, passenger proof and declaration, and invoices showing no tax charged. Pending online utilities, claims are filed manually in FORM GST RFD 10B with undertakings, GSTR 3B and GSTR 2A documents; proper officers validate returns, may rely on GSTR 2A, issue refunds by tax head, coordinate interauthority payments, and recover improperly made refunds with interest. Effective 01.07.2019.

GST exemption on RWA maintenance: small monthly contributions to members exempt; excess renders the entire charge taxable.
Supply of services and goods by a Resident Welfare Association to its own members for common use is exempt from GST when the monthly contribution per member does not exceed the notified ceiling; if contributions exceed that ceiling the entire charge is taxable. An RWA below the annual aggregate turnover registration threshold need not register or pay GST even if per member contributions exceed the ceiling. RWAs may claim input tax credit on GST paid for capital goods, goods and input services used to supply members. The monthly ceiling applies per residential unit.

Goods sent abroad for exhibition/consignment are not supply until sold or retained beyond six months, requiring invoicing then.
Mere removal of goods from India for exhibition or consignment does not constitute a supply under section 7 of the KGST Act and is not a zero rated supply under section 16 of the IGST Act; such movements require maintenance of records and delivery challans per rule 55. If goods are sold abroad within six months, supply is effected on the date of sale and tax invoices must be issued then; if neither sold nor returned within six months, supply is deemed on expiry of six months and a tax invoice must be issued. Refunds of input tax credit are available only after issuance of tax invoices when supply is deemed or effected and if other refund eligibility conditions are met.

Intermediary classification determines whether ITeS supplies qualify as export of services and affect export benefit eligibility.
Clarifies that a provider of ITeS services who supplies services on its own account is not an intermediary, while a provider whose role is limited to arranging or facilitating another's supply will be an intermediary; mixed cases require fact specific determination of the principal supply. Suppliers not being intermediaries may qualify for export of services benefits if they meet the conditions regarding supplier and recipient locations, place of supply, receipt of payment in convertible foreign exchange, and absence of mere establishment relationships.

Electronic Data Interchange mandates electronic customs filing at notified land customs stations, altering import and export clearance procedures.
ICES 1.5 implementation requires that all statutory import and export declarations and documents at the named Land Customs Stations be filed and processed electronically through the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system, with the Facility No. 07/2018 procedures applying mutatis mutandis and adherence to the prescribed Standard Operating Procedure for electronic clearance.

Composition scheme deadline extended: eligible suppliers may file FORM CMP-02 and furnish FORM ITC-03 by 30 September.
A registered person opting to pay central tax under the composition levy must file FORM GST CMP-02 selecting "Any other supplier eligible for composition levy" and furnish FORM GST ITC-03 as required; the deadline for filing these intimation and statement requirements is extended to 30th September, 2019.

Extension of BEN-2 filing deadline permits filing without additional fee until extended date; subsequent fees apply.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has extended the time limit for filing e Form No.BEN 2 without payment of additional fee up to 30.09.2019; thereafter fee and additional fee shall be payable, the circular advising Regional Directors, Registrars of Companies and stakeholders that the relaxation follows representations and approval of the competent authority.

Electric vehicles: GST reduced to 5%, chargers 5%, hiring of electric buses exempt, effective 1 Aug 2019.
The Council reduced GST on all electric vehicles from 12% to 5% and on chargers/charging stations from 18% to 5%, exempted hiring of electric buses by local authorities, and made these changes effective 1 August 2019. It granted deemed ratification to Central Government Notifications, Circulars and Orders issued between 12 June and 19 July 2019, noted GIC decisions from 11 May to 19 July 2019, and approved extensions for FORM GST CMP-02 to 30 September 2019 and FORM GST CMP-08 to 31 August 2019.

Unified Payments Interface mandatory for retail IPO applications; non-listed bank or incorrect UPI handle may cause rejection.
Phase II mandates UPI with ASBA for retail investor applications through intermediaries, discontinuing the prior intermediary-to-SCSB blocking channel; only applications through SCSBs and mobile apps listed on SEBI's website using the correct UPI handle are permissible, and applications using non-listed banks, apps or incorrect handles may be rejected. Alternatives remain for investors whose banks are not live on UPI, and participants must follow SEBI's FAQs and compliance steps.

Liquidity enhancement exemptions for newly formed exchanges permit capped incentives from audited net worth, subject to reserve creation.
Exemption allows newly formed or recommencing exchanges to disregard specified prior limits on LES during their first five years, provided yearly LES incentives do not exceed a prescribed share of audited net-worth, a dedicated LES reserve is maintained (excluded from net-worth calculation), and minimum net-worth requirements under securities regulations continue to be satisfied; exchanges must amend bye-laws, notify brokers, publish the circular, and report implementation to the regulator.

Staggered delivery period standardised to ensure fair allocation, mandatory delivery procedures and prompt pay-in/pay-out timelines.
SEBI mandates a minimum five working day staggered delivery period for all compulsory delivery commodity futures, permits exchanges to set longer periods based on factors like historical open interest and near expiry volume, and requires exchanges to publish criteria for longer durations. During the period sellers/buyers may submit intentions; exchanges shall allocate daily intentions to buyers with open long positions by random allocation (with limited preference for declared takers). Pay-in/pay-out for allocated deliveries must occur within two working days; post expiry open positions result in compulsory delivery at the Final Settlement Price with pay-in/pay-out by the second working day. Pre expiry margin must commence by the start of the staggered period and changes apply to contracts expiring after three months.

eSANCHIT paperless LPCO uploads by PGAs: beneficiaries blocked from self upload from 01/08/2019; ensure correct ICEGATE email registration.
PGAs must upload digitally signed Licenses/Permits/Certificates/Other Authorizations (LPCOs) to eSANCHIT via SWIFT at ICES locations; 16 additional PGAs have been added, raising the total to 43. Beneficiaries are barred from uploading previously issued LPCOs from 01/08/2019; PGAs must upload LPCOs issued in the 15 days before that date and may upload older LPCOs. PGAs will communicate LPCO notifications and IRNs to ICEGATE registered email addresses, and beneficiaries should ensure correct ICEGATE email registration.

Import license requirement for maize imports: DGFT clearance now mandatory pending court orders, affecting unauthorized consignments.
Importation of maize under EXIM code 1005 90 00 is subject to an import license issued by DGFT, in compliance with the High Court's interim direction of 09.07.2018 as extended on 26.07.2018, and customs and regional authorities are to permit clearance only for consignments backed by such authorization.

DGST reimbursement for film exhibition requires unchanged entry fees, tax deposit, ticket stamping, and timely verified applications.
Reimbursement of an amount equivalent to Delhi Goods and Services Tax payable and deposited on admission services for exhibition of "Super 30" is available for six months, subject to unchanged entry fees and seating capacity. Multiplex and cinema-hall owners must separately deposit the applicable State GST, apply in the prescribed form with challans, and stamp each ticket and counterfoil to indicate that SGST has not been charged. Tax already collected from viewers is not reimbursable, and reimbursement is subject to budgetary fund availability.

Penal interest GST treatment clarified: penal interest treated as covered under notification, not taxable in the example.
Corrigendum amends paragraph 5 of Circular No. 57/2019 GST to state that the penal interest charged on a transaction between Y and M/s ABC Ltd. would not be subject to GST because it would be covered under Notification No. 12/2017 State Tax (Rate); the illustrative value of supply of a mobile by X to Y remains Rs. 40,000/-.

GST ARN dashboard issues require portal search, reassignment, or service desk tickets to ensure proper officer disposal.
ARNs relating to GST registration and cancellation cases that are not visible on the dashboard are to be identified through the Search ARN details facility on the Boweb Portal. If the ARN is correctly pending with the concerned officer but not displayed for disposal, a ticket is to be raised on the Service Desk Portal so the Officer Help Desk may resolve the technical issue. If the ARN is pending with the wrong officer, it is to be transferred through the Reassign Work Items facility or, if necessary, by generating a Service Desk ticket for transfer.