Insurance product and pricing requirements for Insurance Offices operating in International Financial Services Centres take effect upon publication in the Official Gazette. They apply to direct insurance business, exclude Insurance Offices transacting reinsurance business, and govern only direct insurance activities where an Insurance Office conducts both direct insurance and reinsurance operations.

Additional or penal interest charged on a transaction covered by the specified exemption entry is not subject to GST because it falls within the applicable exemption notification. The correction removes inconsistent wording suggesting that the interest was outside the notification's coverage. The taxable value of the underlying mobile supply remains unchanged for GST levy, notwithstanding the exempt treatment of the separately charged penal interest.

From commencement of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Appointed Actuary) Regulations, 2022, the earlier appointed actuary regulations and related circulars or guidelines cease to apply within an IFSC. IIOs already operating in an IFSC must comply with any additional requirements under the new framework within one month of commencement, unless an extended period is specified.

The Authority may issue guidance notes or circulars to clarify difficulties arising in the application or interpretation of the Appointed Actuary Regulations. It may also relax strict enforcement of any provision on a fee-supported application, provided it records the reasons for granting the relaxation in writing.

The Authority may prescribe norms, procedures, processes and manners for compliance by IIOs to implement, facilitate and regulate the functions of the Appointed Actuary and matters incidental to those functions.

Appointed Actuaries must submit actuarial reports complying with applicable professional standards. Required filings include actuarial valuation and investment certificates, a statement of admissible assets, liabilities and capital adequacy, and an actuarial valuation report addressing reserve methodology, capital requirements, estimation variability, and qualifications. For unincorporated IIOs, professional standards are determined by the parent entity's home-country regulator. Requisite forms must be filed quarterly or at another specified periodicity.

Appointed actuaries of an IIO must maintain solvency, advise on product design, pricing, investments and reinsurance, ensure fair premiums and adequate reinsurance, and support risk management. They must certify actuarial reports, assets, liabilities and mathematical reserves, while ensuring appropriate methodologies, assumptions and data for reserve calculations. They must inform the Board of unreliable or inadequate reserves and matters requiring action, and directly report legal, regulatory or professional-practice non-compliance. Additional duties address life insurance bonuses and surplus distribution, and actuarial liabilities and reserves for general and health insurance.

The appointed actuary may access relevant information and documents held or controlled by an IIO, or by its Parent Entity where the IIO is unincorporated. This access covers matters requiring actuarial advice, affecting solvency, or affecting the IIO's ability to meet policyholders' reasonable expectations. The appointed actuary may also request information and documents from any officer or employee of an IIO, who must provide them.

Appointment of an Appointed Actuary requires fellowship, a valid practising certificate, relevant post-fellowship insurance experience, and freedom from professional or financial misconduct and conflicts of interest. The Board must authorise direct reporting of legal or regulatory non-compliance. An unincorporated IIO may appoint the Parent Entity's appointed actuary under the applicable home-country framework. The IIO must notify the Authority of the appointment and changes, provide adequate resources and support, and ensure reporting to the relevant top executive.

Definitions identify the appointed actuary, Authority, board, and International Financial Service Centre Insurance Office. The board includes an IIO's board of directors and, for an unincorporated IIO, its parent entity's board. Professional standards encompass standards of practice specified by the International Standards of Actuarial Practice, European Standards of Actuarial Practice, or the International Actuarial Association. Undefined terms carry meanings assigned under the governing Act and related statutory instruments.

Regulation 2 sets the objective of establishing a regulatory framework for persons engaged by IIOs as Appointed Actuaries. The framework concerns persons appointed to perform the roles and discharge the functions attached to an Appointed Actuary position for IIOs.

International Financial Services Centres Insurance Offices fall within the applicability of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Appointed Actuary) Regulations, 2022. Publication in the Official Gazette brings the regime into force. Rule-making authority arises under section 28, read with sections 12 and 13 of the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019, and clause (zd) of sub-section (2) of section 114A of the Insurance Act, 1938.

Earlier insurance record-maintenance and investigation-and-inspection information requirements cease to apply in the IFSC from commencement of the 2022 framework. IIOs and IIIOs operating in the IFSC before commencement must comply with the additional requirements within six months. The Authority may permit an extended period for compliance, creating a transitional obligation for existing insurance offices and insurance intermediary offices.

The Authority may issue guidance notes or circulars to clarify difficulties in applying or interpreting insurance-record maintenance and information-submission requirements. On an application accompanied by the specified non-refundable processing fee, it may relax strict enforcement of any requirement, provided reasons for the relaxation are recorded in writing.

Regulation 11 empowers the Authority to specify norms, procedures, processes and manners of compliance for IIOs and IIIOs. The power supports implementation and facilitation of insurance-record maintenance and submission of requisite information for investigation and inspection, including matters incidental to those purposes.

IIOs and IIIOs must maintain prescribed insurance records for at least seven years under the Insurance Rules, 1939, unless other applicable legal requirements impose a longer retention period. The period runs from the later of the last transaction or policy expiry; for claim-related records, it runs from claim settlement.

Insurance information, data and documents maintained by IIOs and IIIOs must, where relevant, be reconciled with audited financial statements and comply with other applicable legal and regulatory requirements. Records may be maintained in physical or electronic form, with access provided to personnel authorised by the Authority for verification, investigation and inspection purposes.

The Quarterly Return Monthly Payment Scheme permits eligible registered persons to file FORM GSTR-3B quarterly while making tax payments for the first two months of each quarter. Tax may be paid through the Fixed Sum Method or the Self-Assessment Method in FORM GST PMT-06. Details of outward supplies are furnished quarterly in FORM GSTR-1, with an optional Invoice Furnishing Facility for selected invoices in the first two months. Deposits are adjusted against quarterly liability, and interest and late-fee consequences apply as prescribed.

Managers, managing directors, other officers, outsourced service providers and contractors of IIOs and IIIOs must produce books of account, registers, documents, databases, statements and information relating to the entity's affairs when demanded by the Authority or an Investigation Officer. The mandatory production obligation applies notwithstanding other provisions and must be complied with within the stipulated time for investigation and inspection purposes.

Every IIIO must maintain records for past and present employees, covering names and identifiers, appointment and termination dates, designation, qualifications, licence or registration particulars and validity, training completion and test dates, renewal training for insurance solicitation-qualified employees, and branch or office posting. The recordkeeping obligation preserves employment, qualification, licensing, training and posting information for investigation and inspection.