Raw sugar imports classified under Exim Code 170114 remain free within the applicable Tariff Rate Quota of 10 lakh MT for duty-free import, subject to prescribed conditions. The deadline for duty-free import under the quota is extended from 31 October 2026 to 31 December 2026, while all other applicable import conditions remain unchanged.

Annual-return compliance under the Jharkhand GST regime is extended for registered persons covered by the annual-return requirement. For the period from 1 July 2017 to 31 March 2018, the time limit in the Explanation to section 44 is changed from 31 March 2019 to 30 June 2019, addressing delayed operationalisation of the electronic filing system. The extension is deemed effective from 31 December 2018.

GST dues for the pre-CIRP period are operational debt, recoverable through claims before the National Company Law Tribunal rather than coercive action against the corporate debtor. Existing registration is not to be cancelled solely due to CIRP, while the IRP/RP need not file pre-CIRP returns. During CIRP, new registration, post-commencement returns, tax payment, and other GST compliance are required. Transitional input tax credit is available for specified invoices bearing the erstwhile GSTIN, and eligible cash-ledger deposits may be refunded despite non-filing of corresponding returns.

Financial-sector growth in an increasingly digital and interconnected system must be accompanied by a control environment commensurate with the pace and nature of growth. Digital onboarding, AI-led underwriting and autonomous workflows may lower costs, improve customer experience and widen access, but not every process friction is inefficiency. Technology cannot eliminate underlying risk. Before a manual check is automated or removed, institutions should identify the risk it controlled and determine where that control will reside. Process outsourcing through fintechs, external platforms or third-party models does not transfer responsibility associated with the regulated institution's licence.

New Zealand eliminates customs duties on all tariff lines for Indian exports, providing 100% duty-free access for sectors including textiles, leather, engineering goods, automobiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, agricultural products and processed foods. Sensitive products, including dairy, sugar, edible oils and key agricultural commodities, remain excluded from concessions. Rules of origin, bilateral safeguard measures and anti-circumvention provisions are intended to ensure that preferential benefits reach genuine Indian exporters and to protect vulnerable agricultural and rural interests. Tariff Rate Quotas for apples, kiwifruit and Ma nuka honey are linked to delivery of Agricultural Productivity Partnership Action Plans.

Intelligence-led narcotics enforcement resulted in the seizure of 591.3 kg of ganja concealed in specially fabricated compartments of a truck suspected to have carried contraband from Nepal into Uttar Pradesh. Surveillance based on specific intelligence led to interception of the vehicle, from which 81 packets were recovered from cavities above the hood and behind the driver's seat. The ganja consignment and the transport vehicle were seized under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

Cross-border cigarette smuggling was detected through intelligence-led surveillance on the Champhai-Aizawl Road in Mizoram. A truck was intercepted at Tuirial village, resulting in recovery of 432 cases containing 43,20,000 sticks of foreign-origin "Patron" cigarettes. The packets lacked mandatory pictorial and health warnings under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003. The cigarettes and truck were seized under the Customs Act, 1962, and the driver was arrested.

The financial inclusion saturation campaign will operate through bank camps providing enrolment in insurance and pension schemes, opening of basic bank accounts, Aadhaar seeding, re-KYC, central KYC identifier generation, and nomination updates. Camps will also conduct awareness sessions on financial-inclusion schemes, digital fraud and unclaimed financial assets, source agricultural credit applications for eligible farmer-beneficiaries, and facilitate crop-insurance enrolment for the upcoming Rabi season.

Customs enforcement action concerned an organised gold-smuggling syndicate that allegedly imported foreign-origin gold through airports by concealing it as rhodium-coated wires, within trolley-bag linings and as gold paste. The distribution chain allegedly involved handlers, intermediaries, an illegal melting facility and cash sales through a jewellery outlet. Searches uncovered gold, evidence of illegally melted gold, undocumented bars, and records of smuggled-gold dealings, while identifying a financier and other network participants.

Electronic origin data exchange for trade in goods is established through a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Indian and New Zealand customs administrations under the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. The arrangement provides for advance electronic sharing of origin data, strengthening bilateral customs cooperation and supporting implementation of trade-facilitation measures. The mechanism supports effective use of FTA trade preferences and facilitates delivery of negotiated benefits to eligible businesses in both countries.

Excise duty refunds under the State industrial-incentive policy are characterised as capital receipts where the policy aims to accelerate industrial development, generate permanent employment, and reduce regional backwardness. The incentive's purpose, rather than any connection with production or trading operations, determines its character. On this purpose-based approach, refunds granted under the policy do not constitute revenue receipts for income-tax deduction purposes, consistently with the earlier binding characterisation of the same policy.

Entry 195B classifies sprinklers and drip irrigation systems, including laterals, under tariff heading 8424 at a 12% GST rate. Its scope includes sprinkler irrigation systems and is not confined to laterals used in drip irrigation. Micro-irrigation systems include conventional and subsurface drip irrigation, micro-spray or micro-sprinkler irrigation, and mini-bubbler irrigation. Sprinkler systems comprising nozzles, laterals and other components attract the applicable 12% GST rate.

Special procedure under section 148 governs rectification of unappealed orders confirming demands for input tax credit treated as wrongly availed under section 16(4), where the credit is available under section 16(5) or section 16(6). Registered persons must apply electronically within six months of 9 July 2025 with Annexure A information. Rectification is confined to such credit, and principles of natural justice apply where it adversely affects the registered person.

Section 292BB validates defects in service of a timely issued assessment notice when the taxpayer participates in proceedings; it does not cure complete non-issuance. Partners' capital is not unexplained income of the firm where confirmations, tax identifiers, returns and other evidence establish source, identity and creditworthiness. Loan credits require identity, creditworthiness and genuineness, while opening balances cannot be taxed as current-year cash credits. Trade creditors remain explained where underlying purchases or expenses are accepted and supporting confirmations and ledgers exist; non-response to information notices alone, without adverse material, is insufficient.

Prepared aquatic, poultry and cattle feed remains distinct from raw fish meal and meat-cum-bone meal, which attract GST as inputs. Animal feed supplements fall under feed preparations only when supplied ready for specific animal feeding and not capable of general use; generally usable vitamins and provitamins are classified separately. Domestic-use LPG supplied in bulk for bottling and onward household supply receives the concessional rate. Interstate movement of cranes, rigs, tools, spares and other machinery for services on own account is not a supply where title does not pass, no transfer to a distinct person occurs, and onward supply is not intended.

For specified return-filing defaults, cancellation of GST registration may be followed by an application for revocation within a revised 30-day calculation. Where notice was served through registered e-mail or the common portal and the cancellation order was passed on or before 12 June 2020, the period is calculated from the later of service of the cancellation order or 31 August 2020. The revised computation is deemed effective from 25 June 2020.

Electronic submission of FORM GST RFD-01A replaces mandatory physical filing of refund applications and prescribed supporting material with the jurisdictional officer. Invoice statements and invoices not reflected in FORM GSTR-2A are to be uploaded on the common portal. Physical filing remains optional, but claimants not allocated to either tax administration must file physically. An ARN is generated only after filing, uploading all required material, and any required ledger debit; electronic transfer to the proper officer follows.

TNMM benchmarking requires a functionally comparable entity not to be excluded solely because it is persistently loss-making; exclusion depends on abnormal conditions evidenced from data up to the relevant year. Cash profit before depreciation may serve as the profit-level indicator where differing depreciation practices are substantiated, and operating-profit-to-operating-revenue workings must be disclosed to permit verification. Functional comparability of entities with diversified activities, differing turnover, or fabricated-item revenue requires verification of the business profile, relationship of activities, and availability of segmental information. Turnover filters and inclusion or exclusion must rest on established functional facts rather than assumptions, with fresh determination where the record is inadequate.

Transfer-pricing benchmarking under Section 92 is confined to operating costs attributable to international transactions with associated enterprises; applying the arm's length margin to costs of non-associated-enterprise transactions is impermissible. Component manufacturers should not be compared with manufacturers of complete telecom or process-control equipment, while comparables affected by amalgamation or related-party transactions require verification. Foreign-exchange gains or losses directly arising from import and export trading form operating items. Depreciation-method differences may distort operating-profit comparability and require reassessment of the profit level indicator; the treatment of excise duty in operating cost requires factual examination. Under TNMM, arm's length pricing should use a reasonable number of comparables rather than a single most favourable comparable.

GST classification of customised printed products depends on the principal supply in a composite supply. Printing of books, pamphlets, brochures and annual reports is a printing service where recipient-supplied content is printed using paper and other physical inputs belonging to the printer. Conversely, printed envelopes, letter cards, boxes, tissues, napkins and wallpaper are supplies of goods where the printer provides the physical inputs; recipient-supplied designs or logos remain ancillary to the printed goods.