The National Strategic Trade Command Centre provides an integrated analytics and visualisation platform consolidating trade data to monitor trade indicators, scheme performance, application pendency, processing timelines, regional trends and compliance-related parameters. It enables analysis across national trade performance, Regional Authorities, schemes, products, destination markets and individual applications, subject to role-based access permissions. Initial dashboards cover key trade-facilitation and regulatory processes, including SCOMET, export promotion schemes, certificates of origin, importer-exporter registration and restricted imports and exports.

Private capital mobilisation is treated as essential to employment generation and productivity growth. Private enterprises, MSMEs and startups should remain central to job creation, with financing assessed by employment and productivity outcomes rather than volume. Guarantees, risk-mitigation instruments, local-currency financing and lower transaction costs are identified as means to expand affordable and predictable access to capital. Methodologies underlying governance indicators should be transparent, objective, evidence-based and responsive to diverse development experiences.

A Bangkok-origin air-cargo consignment declared as PU Tubes was examined on suspicion of mis-declaration. Plastic spools were found to contain concealed cavities holding polythene-wrapped packets of compacted green substance, preliminarily identified as suspected ganja/marijuana and described as hydroponic weed. The concealed substance, packaging and concealment material were seized under the NDPS Act, 1985. One person was arrested, and follow-up searches produced leads for continuing investigation.

Foreign-origin gold smuggling through the unaccompanied baggage channel involved concealment of gold within hardware items and coordinated retrieval through warehouse personnel and intermediaries. Intelligence-led interception resulted in recovery and seizure of foreign-origin gold concealed in a floor spring, metal locks, a grease gun and a door closer. The arrangement used a trolley secured by a pre-decided number-lock combination, with a warehouse staff member, mediator and receiver allegedly involved in delivery of the concealed gold.

Opium cultivation licensing grievances were addressed through a public hearing where cultivators raised irrigation, climatic, single-plot licensing, and village-wise allocation concerns. Participants were informed of available legal provisions and administrative remedies. Requests for more licences and larger cultivation plots were considered, with policy matters recorded. A helpline is intended to assist cultivators during the 2026-27 licensing operation.

Input tax credit on invoices or debit notes requiring outward-supply reporting may be availed only when the supplier furnishes the details through FORM GSTR-1 or the invoice furnishing facility and they are communicated to the recipient in FORM GSTR-2B. Unpaid penalties on detained or seized goods or conveyances may be recovered through auction after prescribed periods, subject to cancellation on payment before auction notice and stay on appeal, except for perishable or hazardous goods. Sale proceeds follow a statutory appropriation sequence, while provisional attachment procedures use revised forms and permit objections.

Illicit cannabis cultivation was located by a joint DRI and CBN team across five stretches of remote, densely forested wildlife-sanctuary land near village Jamniapani, Shirpur, District Dhule, Maharashtra. The cultivation covered 2.87 hectares. Following requisite legal formalities, the cannabis crop was destroyed using a rotavator in the presence of Police and Forest Department officials. Investigation remains in progress.

Listed entities whose non-convertible debt securities are listed on or after 14 October 2026 must list on stock exchange(s) every non-convertible debt security issued after the date of that listing. Regulation 62A(1) is substituted to impose this mandatory listing obligation, while regulation 62A(2) and 62A(3) are omitted. The revised requirement takes effect from publication in the Official Gazette on 14 October 2026.

Tax-audit obligations arise only where books of account exist and are required to be audited. Where the Revenue's position is that the taxpayer maintained no books, it cannot inconsistently impose a penalty for failure to have those books audited. On that basis, a penalty for failure to obtain a tax audit lacks a statutory foundation and is liable to be cancelled.

The amendments permit issuance of Depository Receipts on REIT units, subject to applicable requirements and Board-specified procedures. They revise specified unitholder approval requirements so that votes in favour must constitute at least seventy-five per cent of total votes cast, excluding votes cast by parties related to the transaction. In a multiple-sponsor REIT, a sponsor exit requires the outgoing or continuing sponsor, or their sponsor-group entities, to provide dissenting unitholders an exit option through purchase of their units.

Tax-audit requirements under Section 44AB apply where profits and gains of business or profession must be computed as part of total income. An educational society claiming Chapter III exemption, without such computation, may reasonably consider the provision inapplicable. Subsequent denial of the exemption in assessment does not alter that position for tax-audit purposes. On that basis, a penalty for failure to obtain a tax audit under Section 271B is not leviable.

Annual-return compliance under Punjab SGST requires eligible registered persons to file FORM GSTR-9 electronically by 31 December following the financial year, while composition taxpayers file FORM GSTR-9A and specified electronic commerce operators file FORM GSTR-9B. Registered persons with aggregate turnover exceeding five crore rupees must submit a self-certified reconciliation statement in FORM GSTR-9C with the annual return. FORM GSTR-9 and FORM GSTR-9C instructions are updated for FY 2020-21, including reporting of later adjustments, input tax credit reversals or availment, and liabilities arising from non-reconciliation.

Accredited investor eligibility is expanded through securities market exposure criteria and accreditation by a specified registered or regulated entity. Alternative eligibility is available for limited liability partnerships, body corporates and family trusts based on prescribed net worth or market exposure, while limited liability partnerships may qualify where each partner independently satisfies accreditation criteria. Investor disputes with an Alternative Investment Fund or its manager must proceed through specified mediation, conciliation and/or arbitration mechanisms. Managerial losses, damages and dispute-resolution expenses cannot be paid from Alternative Investment Fund property.

Import transshipment permission authorises bonded trucking of air import cargo from Air Cargo Complex, Kolkata to Customs-notified airports, Air Cargo Complexes, Container Freight Stations and Inland Container Depots through ECTS-sealed closed-body trucks. Bond amounts are debited on taking over cargo and credited upon delivery to destination Customs. The transshipper is responsible for shortages or pilferage and related value, interest, penalty and cess liabilities. Permission remains valid for one year or until bond expiry, subject to customs transit, cargo-handling and allied compliance requirements.

Tariff values are revised for edible oils, brass scrap, gold, silver and areca nuts under section 14(2) of the Customs Act, 1962. Edible-oil and brass-scrap values are fixed per metric tonne, while gold and silver values apply per 10 grams and per kilogram respectively for specified forms and concessional categories, subject to stated product and import-mode exclusions. Areca nuts receive a tariff value per metric tonne. The revised values take effect on 16 October 2026.

Section 44AB tax-audit requirement applies only to persons carrying on business or profession. A registered charitable educational society claiming exemption under Section 11 on the basis of Section 12A registration, with no business activity or computation of business or professional profits, falls outside that requirement. Subsequent disallowance of the charitable exemption does not retrospectively create a tax-audit obligation while the registration remains operative. Consequently, penalty under Section 271B for failure to obtain a tax audit is not leviable; the society's bona fide belief in the inapplicability of Section 44AB also supports that result.

Composite schemes of arrangement involving amalgamation and demerger under the Companies Act, 2013 require requisite shareholder and creditor approvals, service of statutory notices, and satisfaction of applicable regulatory requirements. Accounting treatment, stock-exchange observations, employee protections and continuing compliance must be addressed. Tax authorities retain their rights to recover lawful dues and pursue pending or future proceedings. The proposed arrangement proceeds with the exclusion of Serial No. 47 and Note 2 from Part IV of the Schedule, while the amalgamation and demerger take effect under the modified scheme.

National Assessment Centre Portal provides a common digital platform under the Faceless Assessment framework for accessing Customs assessment information and reference material. Its searchable resources cover audit objections, rulings, legal decisions, classification, valuation, meeting minutes, advisories, alerts and trade-facilitation information. Importers, Customs Brokers and trade associations are encouraged to use the platform to support informed compliance, reduce divergent assessment practices, and improve transparency, predictability and certainty in Customs assessment.

All Industry Rates of Duty Drawback for specified Chapter 71 tariff items are revised by substituting figures in column (4) of the applicable Schedule. Tariff item 711301 is changed from 1851.99 to 1794.11, while tariff items 711302 and 711401 are each changed from 29501.09 to 26859.02. The amendments are made under the Customs Act, Central Excise Act, and Customs and Central Excise Duties Drawback Rules.

Commissioner of Customs (Adjudication), Mumbai is appointed as the Common Adjudicating Authority to exercise the powers and duties of the Commissioner of Customs, NS-I Commissionerate, Mumbai Customs Zone-II, for adjudicating and disposing of specified customs show-cause notices. The appointment covers identified importers and exporters, with notice particulars and applicable order-in-original deadlines, including extensions where specified. It takes effect upon publication in the Official Gazette.