Goods sent abroad for exhibition not a supply; tax and invoice duties arise if sold or not returned.
Sending or taking goods out of India for exhibition or consignment is not a supply and therefore not a zero-rated supply; such goods must be accompanied by a delivery challan, no bond or LUT is required at removal, and tax invoices are to be issued when quantities are sold abroad or on expiry of the six months period for quantities neither sold nor brought back. Refund claims for zero-rated supplies can be made only after the tax invoice is issued and eligibility conditions are satisfied.

Export of services: Clarifies when ITeS suppliers and intermediaries qualify for export treatment under GST.
Clarifies when ITeS suppliers are treated as intermediaries under the IGST definition and when they may claim export of services benefits. Suppliers who provide ITeS services on their own account are not intermediaries; those who merely arrange or facilitate a client's supply (logistics, clearances, delivery and support) are intermediaries. Mixed cases depend on facts and the principal supply. Non-intermediary suppliers meeting export conditions-supplier in India, recipient and place of supply outside India, payment in convertible foreign exchange, and not merely distinct establishments-may avail export benefits.

Non-supply status of goods sent abroad for exhibition affects invoicing and refund eligibility under GST.
Goods sent or taken out of India for exhibition or consignment do not constitute a supply under section 7 of the CGST Act in the absence of consideration and therefore are not zero rated supply under section 16 of the IGST Act. Such movements should be accompanied by a delivery challan and recorded per the Annexure; bond/LUT is not required at removal. Supply is effected on sale abroad or deemed on expiry of six months if goods are neither sold nor returned, and tax invoices and refund claims follow accordingly under sections 12, 31 and 54 read with the relevant rules.

Intermediary status affects export of services classification and eligibility for export benefits under GST law.
Clarification explains that a supplier of ITeS services who supplies services on his own account is not an intermediary under the IGST Act, while a supplier whose role is merely to arrange or facilitate the supply of goods or services for a foreign client will be an intermediary; where both activities occur classification depends on facts and which service is the principal supply. A non intermediary supplier may qualify as export of services if supplier and recipient locations, place of supply, convertible foreign exchange payment and independent establishment criteria are satisfied.

Audit of GST taxpayers: inspectors and above authorised to conduct statutory audits under Section 65 when allocated by the office.
Officers of the rank of Inspector of Central Tax and above posted in or holding charge of any Audit Group or Circle of the Kolkata Audit I Commissionerate are authorised to conduct audits of registered persons as and when allocated by the office under the statutory audit framework of Section 65 and the definition of audit in clause (13) of Section 2 of the CGST Act, 2017.

eSANCHIT paperless processing requires PGAs to upload LPCOs; beneficiary uploads disabled from 01/08/2019 via ICEGATE registration
eSANCHIT will require Participating Government Agencies to upload digitally signed Licenses, Permits, Certificates and Other Authorisations to ICES via SWIFT/ICEGATE; beneficiary self-uploading of previously issued LPCOs is deactivated from 01/08/2019. Sixteen additional PGAs are onboarded, PGAs must upload LPCOs issued in the 15 days before the cut-off (and may upload earlier LPCOs), and beneficiaries must ensure correct email registration on ICEGATE for IRN communication.

Disclosure of divergence in asset classification requires listed banks to report significant provisioning or NPA divergences to exchanges.
SEBI modifies its July 18, 2017 circular to adopt revised RBI thresholds: listed banks must disclose to stock exchanges divergences in asset classification and provisioning where either additional provisioning assessed by the RBI exceeds a specified proportion of reported profit before provisions and contingencies for the reference period, or additional gross NPAs identified by the RBI exceed a specified proportion of published incremental gross NPAs for the reference period; other disclosure requirements remain unchanged and the modification is effective immediately.

Tariff Rate Quota allocation enables additional sugar exports to USA under free TRQ, subject to notified conditions and reporting.
An additional quantity of raw cane sugar has been allocated for export to the USA under the Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ), available on a Free (non-levy) basis subject to the notified "Nature of Restrictions" and compliance with reporting obligations to the export promotion authority. Certificates of Origin, where required for preferential treatment, shall be issued by the Additional Director General of Foreign Trade, Mumbai, and other prescribed export certification requirements for shipments to the USA continue to apply.

Corporate governance compliance reporting: revised report formats and timelines mandated under Listing Regulations for listed entities.
SEBI has revised the format for corporate governance compliance reports and prescribed three templates: Annex I for quarterly filings, Annex II for annual year end reporting, and Annex III to be filed within six months after financial year end (may accompany the next financial year's second quarter report). These formats replace the Annexure to the 2015 circular and must be used to discharge the submission obligation under Regulation 27(2); exchanges are to disseminate the formats and the revision takes effect from the quarter ended September 30, 2019.

Clearance of goods subject to pending litigation requires maintenance of shipment details and notification to exporters and importers.
Clearance of persulphates consignments is to proceed subject to the final outcome of the pending Special Civil Application; details of goods cleared must be maintained and exporters and importers informed of the litigation, and customs officers are directed to follow the High Court order and related tariff unit instructions until the petition is finally resolved.

IGST refund on exports: rectify SB001-SB005 and GSTIN/EGM mismatches and submit required GST reconciliations to claim refund.
Refund of IGST on exports requires Shipping Bills to migrate from IGST temporary scroll to final scroll; exporters must rectify EGM/Stuffing errors (SB002), Invalid Invoice errors (SB005), GSTIN mismatches (SB003) and Shipping Bill detail errors (SB001) listed in annexures. Exporters must submit self certified GSTR 1/Table 6A, GSTR 3B and concordance tables per Circulars 05/2018 and 08/2018; file a Revised Refund Request for differential IGST where applicable. Manual officer processing for SB003, SB005 and supplementary refunds is limited to Shipping Bills filed up to 15.11.2018. HELP DESK and IGST Refund Cell contact details provided.

24x7 Direct Port Delivery by rail to Balmer Lawrie CFS allowed within 48-72 hours; monthly reporting required.
24x7 Direct Port Delivery/Direct Port Entry rail removal to Balmer Lawrie CFS is permitted within 48 hours of landing on request or agreement by eligible importers, subject to Out of Charge being taken within 48 hours (extendable to a maximum of 72 hours) from entry inwards. Balmer Lawrie CFS must submit a monthly performance report in the prescribed proforma (Annexure A). The earlier Public Notice is modified only to this extent.

Exemption from late filing charges for bills of entry where portal failures prevented timely filing, subject to documentation and review.
Late-filing charges for Bills of Entry impacted by e-Sanchit/ICEGATE technical failures are waived for consignments within the specified failure period, with waivers to be processed by the Additional/Joint Commissioner; delayed filings after that period require evidence of attempted submission (job numbers, screenshots, ICEGATE messages) for waiver consideration and the notice is to be treated as a Standing Order.

Sea cargo manifest compliance requires authorised carriers to register on ICEGATE and stakeholders to comply with new regulations
Authorised carriers filing arrival and departure manifests must register through the ICEGATE portal under the amended Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations, 2018 before the Regulations come into force on 1 August 2019; all importers, exporters, agents, shipping lines and other stakeholders must take cognisance and comply, and may report difficulties in compliance to the issuing office.

Penal interest exemption clarified; interest covered by notification and not subject to GST; supply value unaffected.
The corrigendum to Trade Circular No. 23/2019 replaces the Case 2 text in paragraph 5 to state that additional/penal interest charged on a transaction between Y and M/s ABC Ltd. is covered under Sl. No. 27 of Notification No. 1136-F.T. dated 28.06.2017 and, accordingly, such penal interest would not be subject to GST; the declared value of the mobile supply by X to Y for GST purposes remains Rs. 40,000.

Paperless LPCO submission: PGA uploading required, beneficiary uploads disabled and ICEGATE email registration needed for access.
PGAs must upload digitally signed Licenses/Permits/Certificates/Other Authorizations (LPCOs) onto eSANCHIT; beneficiaries will be barred from uploading previously issued LPCOs once PGA uploading is fully enabled. PGAs are required to upload LPCOs issued during the prior 15-day window and may upload earlier LPCOs to enable beneficiary use. Communication of LPCO details and IRNs must be via email addresses registered in ICEGATE, utilising a simplified auto-registration process for limited eSANCHIT functions without digital signatures; customs formations must ensure correct beneficiary email registration and issue public notices.

Partial discharge of bonds: proportionate online crediting as export obligations are fulfilled, streamlining bond release.
Partial discharge of bonds and bank guarantees for gold imports will be credited proportionately as export obligations are fulfilled through an online mechanism in ICES 1.5, subject to prescribed documentation evidencing export fulfilment and application of existing standard operating procedures and timelines for expeditious bond discharge.

Late filing exemption for Bill of Entry due to portal failure, conditional waiver granted upon evidence and discretion.
Exemption from late-filing charges for presentation of the Bill of Entry is authorised for consignments with entry inward dates on 08.07.2019 and 09.07.2019 and corresponding Bill of Entry dates within that period; waivers for such late presentation will be processed by the respective Deputy/Assistant Commissioners. Delays in BE generation after 10.07.2019 must be supported by evidence of attempted electronic submission-job numbers, screenshots or ICEGATE messages-to enable consideration of discretionary waivers on merits.

Post-sales discounts under GST: characterisation determines whether they reduce supplier value or constitute taxable separate supplies.
Post-sales discounts under clause (b) of section 15(3) CGST are to be characterised by their commercial nature: discounts without further dealer obligations relate to the original supply and may be excluded from the supplier's value of supply; discounts that require the dealer to perform promotional activities are separate supplies of services on which the dealer must charge GST and the supplier may claim ITC; discounts paid to induce dealers to lower customer prices must be added to the dealer's consideration for valuation. Where discounts cannot be excluded, suppliers may issue financial/commercial credit notes but cannot reduce original tax liability, and dealers need not reverse ITC if they pay the reduced value after adjusting such credit notes in line with applicable provisos.

Refund processing: accept electronically transferred claims despite incorrect portal mapping and notify portal to correct assignment.
Where a refund application in FORM GST RFD-01A is electronically transferred by the common portal to a tax authority that is not the taxpayer's administrative assignee and the portal lacks a re assignment facility, the receiving tax authority should proceed to process the refund claim. After processing, that authority must inform the common portal of the incorrect mapping and request an update so subsequent applications are routed to the correct jurisdiction.