Section 144 permits best-judgment assessment when a tax return, books, or material needed to determine taxable income are not produced. Where prior profitability lacks a consistent pattern and contemporaneous support for a lower estimate, non-compliance despite substantial business turnover can justify estimating business income at a net-profit rate applied to net bank deposits. Estimation at 0.5% of net bank deposits was treated as fair and reasonable.

Section 68 requires a taxpayer to establish the creditor's identity and creditworthiness and the genuineness of a credit transaction. Where identity is undisputed and bank records, capital-account entries and banking-channel transfers substantiate loans, the credits may not be treated as unexplained. Credits received in earlier years cannot be assessed as unexplained cash credits in a later relevant year. Salary expenditure for necessary part-time assistance may qualify as business expenditure where the payments are modest and genuine; absence of employee confirmation alone does not justify disallowance without material disputing business need or genuineness.

Loans supported by lender affidavits, confirmations, bank statements and source-of-funds records satisfied the requirements of identity, transaction genuineness and lender creditworthiness for Section 68 purposes. With no specific adverse findings in the remand report on these evidentiary elements, the short interval before loan repayment did not by itself discredit the transactions. The addition as unexplained cash credits was therefore deleted.

Cash deposits made during demonetisation and recorded as cash sales are not unexplained money where books of account, day-to-day stock records, cash book, sales ledger and accepted VAT returns trace the deposits to recorded sales. Section 69A requires a satisfactory explanation of the nature and source of money; where those records and explanations remain unrejected and free of identified infirmity, the evidentiary burden is discharged. Suspicion from unusual sales, specified bank notes, or a probability-based assessment cannot displace that documented explanation.

Reassessment under sections 147, 148 and 151 requires the Assessing Officer to obtain and receive the competent authority's approval before issuing notice. Approval recorded internally on the same date, but communicated only after notice issuance, does not validly authorise the notice. Communication of approval to the issuing officer is therefore a necessary precondition for reassessment. A notice issued before such communication is invalid, rendering the consequential reopening and assessment unsustainable.

Transfer-pricing adjustments require an identified international transaction supported by agreements and facts; AMP expenditure alone and the Bright Line Test cannot establish one, requiring fresh examination. Consistency protected royalty payments absent changed facts or law, and unsupported nil or ad hoc royalty determinations were eliminated. IT, technical and R&D services and cost reimbursements require functional, assets-and-risks and comparability analysis; these matters require recomputation where warranted. Share acquisitions are ordinarily capital-account transactions absent taxable income, subject to examination of the statutory valuation provision. Residual head-office expenses may be apportioned through factory-linked employees and eligible-unit sales, subject to eligibility verification. Book-profit and dividend treaty claims require fresh determination after considering submissions and hearing.

Reassessment for Assessment Year 2015-16 is governed by the limitation period for notices issued under section 148 read with section 149(1)(b). The notice issued on 20 July 2022 fell outside the permissible period. As a result, the reassessment proceedings and the related penalty and recovery proceedings, being founded solely on that notice, lacked an independent legal basis and were invalid.

Cash sales disclosed during demonetisation were accepted where sale invoices, books of account, stock registers, and VAT returns substantiated the transactions. In the absence of adverse material discrediting the explanation, concurrent factual findings accepting those sales could not be disturbed merely on suspicion. Interference in an income-tax appeal was therefore unwarranted because the findings rested on documentary evidence and no contrary material was identified.

Failure to serve notices of hearing by email or within time by Speed Post denied the petitioners an effective opportunity to be heard. The original orders were quashed for that procedural defect. Fresh proceedings may commence from the show-cause notice stage, provided an opportunity of hearing is afforded; the merits remain open for determination.

Cancellation of registration solely for continuous non-furnishing of returns over six months requires an opportunity to cure the default by filing all pending returns and paying consequential statutory dues. Registration must be restored upon compliance within the prescribed period, including filing returns for the full default period and payment of tax, interest, fine, penalty and late fees.

Forms due on or before 30 September 2026 under Regulation 47B of the Liquidation Process Regulations will incur a monthly delayed-filing fee, plus applicable GST, when submitted after their due date. The charge applies to every delayed submission, including filings made for correction or updating, and runs for each month of delay. This requirement commences the levy of fees for delayed filing of the prescribed liquidation forms.

Rules of Origin under a trade agreement prevail over CAROTAR, 2020 where inconsistent. For preferential imports under the India-UK CETA, a valid Origin Declaration from the UK exporter or producer is sufficient proof of origin; Form-I is neither required with the Bill of Entry nor a condition for preferential tariff treatment. Form-I information may be sought only where risk-based origin checks are triggered and the proper officer has reason to believe origin criteria are unmet. Failure to provide exporter or producer confidential information cannot alone deny preference, and insufficient information may be verified through the exporting party's Verification Authority. Earlier adverse origin determinations apply to later imports only when goods are genuinely identical, subject to importer submissions and independent assessment of materially different goods.

Export declarations for specified woven and knitted textile tariff items must include mandatory identifiers in the Customs Automated System from 1 November 2026. The CHR information type requires qualifier FR001 for flame-retardant fabric and FR009 for fabric other than flame-retardant fabric. The requirement covers listed goods in Chapters 52, 55 and 60, whose tariff classifications also encompass non-flame-retardant textiles. These identifiers enable electronic distinction between flame-retardant and other fabrics for implementation of the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Textiles.

Direct Port Delivery container clearance remains subject to a normal 48-hour limit from landing at the port terminal. Sundays and holidays observed by the Port and Customs are excluded when calculating that period, while Saturdays remain included. Containers not cleared within the applicable period will be shifted by rail to the designated CFS within 72 hours of landing. Where Customs clearance is not obtained within 72 hours, the containers will be treated as ordinary, non-DPD containers. All other DPD and Direct Port Entry procedures remain unchanged, with immediate effect.

Risk-based selective physical boarding will apply to vessels at specified docks, jetties and anchorage points. Customs screening will consider compliance history, voyage details, prior port calls, cargo, crew profiles, and declarations concerning crew effects, ship stores and satellite devices. Terminal operators must provide tentative berthing lists, while designated superintendents will assess risk, review mandatory advance documents and authorise boarding where required. Vessels not selected for boarding remain subject to strict responsibility of the master and shipping agent for complete and accurate declarations, safeguarding declared stores, preventing unlawful unloading or consumption, and promptly reporting logistical or documentary changes. Cargo discharge may proceed after Entry Inward, with sailing governed by advance Port Clearance.

Inter-CFS movement of LCL export cargo is permitted for transfer from eligible originating CFSs to a designated CFS for consolidation or assimilation and onward export through specified ports. Movement may occur only after Let Export Order, supervised stuffing, Customs one-time bottle sealing, and documented handover; a Shipping Bill consignment cannot move in part. Originating and destination custodians must furnish indemnity bonds, maintain registers and container-wise tally sheets, preserve records for five years, and ensure supervised de-stuffing, consolidation, re-stuffing, and sealing. Seal tampering requires resealing, full examination, and reporting. Cargo must generally ship within 30 days; custodians face duty and penal liability for loss, switching, or non-compliance.

Customs officers must draw samples when AQCS makes an online request for a Bill of Entry referred for a No Objection Certificate; the system will prevent Out of Charge until sampling occurs. Officers must generate and dispatch a test memo through the existing mechanism. The system will electronically transmit the test memo to AQCS, while officers must continue to send its physical copy with the sample. AQCS test reports will be digitally integrated with the relevant Bill of Entry and available through the NOC details function. The procedure operates as a standing instruction for concerned officers.

Government-supported Exim Bank Line of Credit supports financing of developmental projects in Maldives through eligible Indian exports that comply with the Foreign Trade Policy and financing terms. At least 75% of each eligible contract's goods, works and services must be supplied from India, while up to 25% may be sourced abroad. Individual credit agreements require project identification and approval. Disbursement ends 48 months after scheduled contract completion. Exporters must declare shipments through export declaration forms or shipping bills; agency commission is not payable under the facility.

India's G20 trade engagement promotes a rules-based, open and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system while preserving policy space for developing countries. Bilateral discussions seek to expand opportunities for farmers, fishermen, women entrepreneurs, startups, MSMEs and other enterprises. India-United States engagement is intended to advance a balanced Bilateral Trade Agreement and an interim trade deal, alongside investment and industry outreach promoting manufacturing partnerships with Indian enterprises.

Rough diamonds may be imported into the Special Notified Zone only by eligible foreign mining companies through air cargo, supported by an invoice, packing list, insurance documents and Kimberley Process Certificate. Customs examination, carat-weight reconciliation, sealing and secure custody are required before viewing or sale. Sales may be conducted only for complete lots, without sub-lot sales or mixing. The mining company's sale invoice forms the basis for customs valuation, and buyers require bill of entry clearance, duty payment and out-of-charge permission before removal. Unsold diamonds must be re-exported through a shipping bill within the stipulated period.