Use of DEPB scrip: election at filing is final and DEPB credit must be applied fully against duty payable.
Election to use DEPB Scrip at filing of the Bill of Entry is final and cannot be changed during assessment. DEPB credit must be applied fully: where duty payable exceeds scrip credit, the entire scrip balance must be debited; where duty payable is less than scrip credit, the duty must be paid in full by debiting the scrip. Operational issues are to be referred to the designated Deputy/Assistant Commissioner.

IGST refund facilitation prioritises SB005 invoice mismatch cases upon submission of concordance tables and GSTR1.
An IGST refund facilitation camp will prioritise processing of refund claims affected by invoice mismatch error SB005 where GSTN validation is complete; exporters who exported through Nhava Sheva must submit prescribed concordance tables with GSTR1 and Table 6A for verification at the ground floor helpdesk, after which verified cases will be advanced for priority processing at the IGST refund processing centre on the sixth floor. Submissions are limited to shipping bills showing SB005 errors exported via Nhava Sheva and must follow the circulated concordance format.

IGST exports refund: dedicated refund cell and procedures to expedite sanction of pending export refund claims for exporters.
A Special drive IGST Exports Refund fortnight will intensify liquidation of pending IGST refund claims by combining administrative guidance, EDI and GSTN system modifications, and ICEGATE real-time error-status access. A dedicated refund cell at ICD Whitefield, Bengaluru, with a contact email has been set up for exporters to pursue pending claims; exporters must verify error status on ICEGATE and then approach the cell, following the procedures in the Board and office circulars where shipping bill error codes indicate invoice mismatch.

IGST refunds: special fortnight to expedite pending claims, with an exclusive refund cell for exporters to seek sanction.
A focused program-the "IGST/ITC Exports Refund fortnight" from 15 March to 29 March 2018-has been launched to expedite sanction of pending IGST refunds. An exclusive IGST refund cell is constituted at the New Customs House with named officers and a contact e-mail for exporters to approach for clarification and sanction of refund claims; exporters are invited to bring any difficulties to the office's notice.

Division of migrated taxpayers' base between Centre and Sikkim under GST; assignments by turnover and annexure lists.
The State Level Committee allocated residual migrated taxpayers between Central and State GST jurisdiction using a turnover threshold of Rs. 1.5 crore; specific taxpayers are assigned to Centre or State in four annexures (above/below threshold for each jurisdiction). Taxpayers omitted from annexures must report to designated Central or State email addresses, and Trade and Industry associations are directed to inform members.

Category II FPI investment: clarified eligibility, portfolio commonality, broad based investor requirements, and prohibition on segregated insurer portfolios.
Collective investment vehicles of private/merchant banks must comply with KYC and beneficial owner identification, exclude Resident Indian/NRI/OCI beneficial owners, avoid jurisdictions identified by FATF for deficiencies, prohibit opaque or bearer share structures, and maintain a broad based common portfolio (except for ODIs) with no investor exceeding forty nine percent; insurance/reinsurance companies must maintain undivided common portfolios and segregated structures are prohibited; other regulated Category II persons may invest proprietary funds and may invest client funds as ODI issuing FPIs or after meeting broad based and common portfolio conditions, with all FPI restrictions and due diligence requirements continuing to apply.

Deletion of handbook provision under foreign trade policy removes a Chapter provision and changes procedural obligations.
The Director General of Foreign Trade, exercising powers under paragraph 2.04 of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-2020, issues a public notice amending Chapter 2 of the Handbook of Procedure (2015-20) by deleting the provisions at Para 2.86; the notice effects the formal removal of that paragraph and removes any procedural obligations or references that depended solely on it.

Centralized refund processing for UIN entities: central authorities handle UIN refunds and procedural filing requirements govern claims.
UIN holders have special non-registered-person status to claim refunds on inward supplies, but must obtain GSTIN if making taxable supplies. UINs are applied for under Rule 17 via FORM GST REG-13 or through the Protocol Division where the portal form is unavailable; single UIN is optional and multiple or merged UINs must be accommodated. Refunds require filing FORM GSTR-11 for periods claimed and quarterly FORM RFD-10 with supporting certificates as per the governing notification; printed RFD-10s are submitted to jurisdictional Central Tax Commissionerates and processed centrally regardless of tax type or State.

Discontinuance of LoUs and LoCs for trade credits; banks may still issue letters of credit and bank guarantees under regulatory rules.
Discontinue issuance of Letters of Undertaking and Letters of Comfort by Authorised Dealer Category I banks for trade credits for imports with immediate effect; Letters of Credit and Bank Guarantees for trade credits may continue only subject to compliance with existing banking regulations on guarantees and co acceptances. Banks must inform their constituents and the Master Direction will be updated to reflect the change.

Jurisdictional transfer of customs export functions: centralized Export Promotion Division to manage bonds, duty free imports, bonded warehouses.
A centralized Export Promotion Division (EPD) at Chennai Customs IV will assume responsibility for customs functions previously handled by Central Excise/GST formations for EOUs, SEZs, STPs and EHTPs within the Chennai Customs Zone. Assigned tasks include acceptance and execution of B-17 bond/LUT (with LUT acceptance clarified to remain with Central Excise/GST officers), administration of duty free and concessional imports subject to end use conditions, bond enforcement and duty demand on default, licensing of bonded warehouses, issuance of EPCG installation certificates, and recovery of customs dues.

Mandatory electronic uploading of supporting documents may be imposed; customs brokers and filers advised to adopt e-SANCHIT.
Extension of the e-SANCHIT application requires electronic uploading of supporting documents at all EDI locations; the application is currently voluntary but may be made obligatory imminently. Customs brokers and ICEGATE self-filers are instructed to use e-SANCHIT regularly, and those who have not used it must begin filing bills of entry via the system. Stakeholders encountering implementation difficulties are to report them to the issuing office.

Brand Rate Fixation: special drive to clear pending drawback applications and submit requests to BRFC for disposal.
A special administrative drive requires prompt finalisation of pending applications for Brand Rate fixation of drawback at the Air Cargo Export Commissionerate, New Customs House, New Delhi. Exporters with Let Export Orders dated on or after 01.10.2017 must apply afresh; verification may be conducted by the customs formation having jurisdiction over the manufacturing factory. The Commissionerate initiated a time bound campaign to clear pendency older than one month by 30.04.2018 and requests exporters/CHAs to contact the office within ten days with required documents. A Brand Rate Fixation Cell (BRFC) has been formed with designated officers and contact details for processing cases.

Refund of Integrated Tax on zero rated supplies: guidance published and trade asked to report implementation difficulties.
Refund of Integrated Tax on zero rated supplies is addressed by directing traders to a published guidance flyer that sets out procedures for claiming IGST refunds for zero rated supplies; stakeholders facing practical difficulties are invited to notify the issuing office.

Gangavaram Port customs area extended by 35.50 acres, increasing jurisdiction to 752.65 acres for import/export operations.
In exercise of powers under section 8(b) of the Customs Act, 1962, the Commissioner of Customs, Visakhapatnam, has extended the notified customs area by including an additional 35.50 acres-described by enclosed drawing and coordinates-thereby increasing the total customs area to 752.65 acres to serve as a proper place for unloading imported goods and loading exported goods.

Seized property management: electronic workflows enable requests for retention, release, transfer and centralisation with approval controls.
Phase Four of the ITBA Investigation Module creates electronic workflows for management of items and proceedings recorded during Search and Survey: officers may initiate retention/ release requests for seized books/documents, transfer seized items between AOs with specific approval requirements for non jurisdictional transfers, and initiate adjustment/release of cash and other assets tied to PAN entries. The system routes workitems through investigative and supervisory officers for comments, approvals or rejections, generates required memos/letters, and updates PD account or strong room records; centralisation of cases and PAN transfer processes are similarly handled via routed approvals.

IGST refund processing intensified to clear pending export refund claims via a dedicated refund cell and stakeholder outreach.
Intensified processing of IGST refund claims for exports through a special administrative drive and a dedicated IGST Refund Cell at the Air Cargo Complex in Chennai, with named contact officers, telephone and email coordinates to assist exporters and facilitate resolution of processing obstacles transmitted via the customs portal.

IGST refund disbursement delays due to PFMS validation errors require ICEGATE registration and prescribed IFSC/account rectification.
IGST refund disbursements have failed where PFMS validation rejected payee bank/IFSC details; affected IECs are listed on the port website. IEC holders must register on ICEGATE to view PFMS Invalidated A/Cs and follow the step-by-step guide. Error codes TBE0001-TBE0007 and TBE0018 require contacting ICEGATE support; other errors require submitting prescribed documents (request letter, bank-verified account details, IEC, PAN; and NOCs where replacing accounts) to the EDI Section by e-mail for IFSC/account updation. A table of error codes specifies rectifications, including resubmission, bank corrections, or DG systems action.

Hedging of Commodity Price Risk permitted overseas using specified derivatives subject to bank safeguards and reporting requirements.
These Directions permit residents other than individuals to hedge commodity price risk and freight risk in overseas markets using permitted products (futures, forwards, vanilla options, swaps, and certain structured products), subject to bank verification of contracted or anticipated exposure, alignment of hedge quantity and tenor, board approved hedging policy, risk management capability, OTC counterparty jurisdictional acceptability, routing of payments through a special account, statutory auditor certification, corrective action reporting to the Reserve Bank, limited SBLC/guarantee use for margins, and quarterly reporting to the Reserve Bank.

GST Council set timelines for e Way Bills, deferred e Wallet and TDS/TCS, and tasked committees on return design.
The Council ratified specified notifications and circulars, amended Anti Profiteering Rules (notably Rule 134), designated GIC as the IT grievance committee with GSTN and CBEC system heads as invitees, set e Way Bill dates (inter State from 1 April 2018; staggered intra State rollout in April 2018), deferred IGST accounting and e Wallet implementation (to 1 October 2018), postponed TDS/TCS and reverse charge introduction to 1 July 2018 with a GoM to study reverse charge for composition taxpayers, and referred the new single monthly return design for further GoM/IT group consideration.

One-time default intimation for DPD importers fixes a default stacking code, waiving repeated advance notifications to shipping lines.
DPD importers at JNCH may submit a one time default intimation via CSLA to fix a default stacking code for all future FCL consignments; shipping lines and terminal operators must update records so those consignments are treated as DPD without repeated advance notifications. Exceptions require advance intimation for specific consignments. Customs broker submissions must include importer authorization and prescribed supporting documents, and correspondence will use declared email addresses with issues referred to the DPD Cell.