Field offices to remain open to facilitate filing of returns and payment of taxes ahead of the year end.
All field offices of customs, central excise and service tax will be kept open on 28 March 2015 to facilitate taxpayers in filing of returns, payment of taxes, completing procedural formalities and obtaining required clarifications; this is an additional facilitation beyond 24x7 customs services at ports and airports.

Foreign Direct Investment approvals expand foreign equity and JV entry across aviation, pharma, retail and investing companies.
Ten FDI proposals were approved across civil aviation, duty free retail, investing companies, pharmaceuticals, contract R&D and single brand retail trading, chiefly involving increases or transfers of foreign equity, incorporation of WoS for retail, issuance of convertible preference shares and downstream investments by an investing company into wind energy assets.

Make in India branding to drive trade and investment outreach at Hannover Messe through pavilion exhibits and CEO engagement.
India is presenting a government-coordinated trade and investment promotion at Hannover Messe 2015 under the Make in India brand: DIPP is constructing the India Pavilion with EEPC India as lead agency and partners CII and FICCI, mobilizing over 300 companies and 12 state delegations across core sectoral themes to seek technology collaboration, business tie-ups and investment, and organizing high-level events including a pavilion opening, an Indo-German Business Summit, and six ministry-led seminars to attract German technology and investment.

Finance Act reforms introduce tax and compliance changes including service tax, excise, customs and undisclosed foreign assets provisions.
Statutory and administrative measures comprise the Finance Act and the Finance Bill with clause-wise provisions, supported by Service Tax, Central Excise and Customs notifications to implement tax rate, base and compliance changes; the measures also target undisclosed foreign income and assets through disclosure and enforcement mechanisms.

Anti-dumping investigations: domestic industry petitions leading to duties where dumped imports cause material injury to producers.
DGAD investigates alleged dumping based on prima-facie evidence of dumping, material injury and causal link, processed under the Customs Tariff Act framework. Investigations assess economic indicators-market share, profits, capacity utilization, return on investment, cash flow, inventory effects and growth-to determine material injury. Where injury is found DGAD recommends anti dumping duties and the Department of Revenue has imposed duties on recommended imports.

Export Promotion schemes support exporters while core industry growth slowed due to energy production shortfalls.
Index of Eight Core Industries growth slowed in January 2015 chiefly due to negative crude oil and natural gas output-crude oil affected by limited side-track gains, delayed cluster production and sand ingress; natural gas affected by lower offtake, well closures, production delays and pending forest clearance. The Government does not separately classify infrastructure exports or forecast their GDP share, and advances export promotion via Foreign Trade Policy schemes including Focus Market/Product Schemes, Duty Drawback, EPCG and Advance Authorisation while monitoring sectoral export performance.

Customs duty on gold and import allocation rules reduced gold inflows and helped narrow the trade deficit.
Rising gold imports contributed to high trade and current account deficits in 2011-13, prompting the Government to raise customs duty and the Reserve Bank to introduce an 80:20 import allocation scheme for nominated banks and agencies to rationalise gold imports; these measures, together with export-promotion steps and a fall in crude oil prices, were associated with a decline in the trade deficit in 2013-14 and contained increases in 2014-15 before the scheme's withdrawal in November 2014. Customs seizures and case numbers for gold rose in recent years, reflecting enforcement activity.

Land allocation for SEZs prioritises waste and barren land, limits double-cropped acquisition and restricts post 2007 compulsory takings.
Land allocation for SEZs is a State subject with acquisition to prioritise waste and barren land; single-crop land may be acquired if necessary and double-cropped acquisition must not exceed 10% of total SEZ land where unavoidable. The Board of Approval only considers State-recommended proposals and will not approve SEZs involving compulsory acquisition effected or proposed after 5 April 2007.

Conversion of EPZ into SEZ: SEZ regulatory status and monitoring of exports, employment and investment under law.
Conversion of eight EPZs into SEZs pursuant to the SEZ Act, 2005 is recorded, with annual cumulative figures for exports, employment and investment provided for three financial years; Development Commissioners monitor unit performance to ensure compliance with SEZ statutory and regulatory provisions.

Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement expands market access for Indian exporters through tariff concessions and service commitments.
The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Korea creates tariff concessions and regulatory commitments across trade in goods, services, rules of origin, intellectual property and investment to improve market access. It opens opportunities for Indian exports in sectors such as mineral fuels, iron and steel, organic chemicals, aluminium, food-industry residues and cotton products. The Trade in Services chapter contains Korean commitments in several sub-sectors-including advertising, management consulting, project management, technical inspection and placement of personnel-benefiting Indian service suppliers, supported by government outreach programmes.

Mandatory documents for cross-border trade reduced to three, streamlining export and import compliance and procedures.
Reduction to three mandatory documents for exports and imports consolidates compliance: Customs has merged Commercial Invoice and Packing List into a single Commercial Invoice cum Packing List; RBI foreign exchange control forms have been dispensed with by incorporating declarations into the Shipping Bill or removing Form A 1; and the Shipping Ministry has removed the Terminal Handling Receipt requirement via online processing. The mandatory export set is Bill of Lading/Airway Bill, Commercial Invoice cum Packing List, and Shipping Bill/Bill of Export; the mandatory import set is Bill of Lading/Airway Bill, Commercial Invoice cum Packing List, and Bill of Entry.

Indirect tax collections rise, with customs, service tax, and central excise showing year on year growth and meeting revised targets.
Provisional indirect tax collections for April-February 2015 increased 7.4% year-on-year, achieving 88.5% of the revised estimate; customs rose 8.7% (90.6% of RE), service tax rose 8.3% (86.2% of RE), and central excise rose 5.3% (88.5% of RE).

Make in India initiative invites investment to strengthen manufacturing and target sectors with export potential to China.
The Make in India initiative invites domestic and foreign investment by identifying 25 priority sectors and sharing opportunity information via meetings, a web portal and promotional materials to strengthen India's manufacturing and services competitiveness. The Government states it has not conducted a specific India-China export-strength study but, from export-import profiles, flags Pharmaceuticals, IT/ITES, Auto Components, Agro Products, Tourism and Film & Entertainment as sectors with export potential to China, presented in a written Rajya Sabha reply by the Commerce Ministry.

Export support schemes strengthen trade via market linked incentives and duty concessions, coupled with sectoral performance monitoring.
The government supports exports through targeted incentive schemes-Focus Market Scheme, Market Linked Focus Product Scheme, Focus Product Scheme and Duty Drawback Scheme-and permits duty free import of capital goods under EPCG and inputs under Advance Authorisation; it continuously monitors sectoral export performance and implements need based adjustments balanced by fiscal and economic considerations, as reported by the minister in a parliamentary written reply.

Export incentives for the leather sector bolster competitiveness through duty credit scrips and import facilitation measures.
The government designated the leather sector as a Focus Sector under Make-in-India and maintains a package of export incentives under the Foreign Trade Policy, including Duty Credit Scrips for various leather products and capital goods, duty-free import entitlements linked to prior export value, zero-duty EPCG provisions, recognition of select towns as Towns of Export Excellence, and market development and access assistance to enhance supply, skills, and technology adoption.

Lifting of import ban on mangoes restores trade access under EU implementing decision, with vegetables still subject to export controls.
The European Commission lifted the import ban on Indian fresh mangoes by an implementing decision, restoring trade access subject to EU import rules. Vegetables remain banned; the Government has adopted a Standard Operating Procedure requiring processing in approved packhouses under plant quarantine supervision and export compliance measures as prerequisites for vegetable exports.

Non-resident treatment for IFSC units enables foreign currency operations with regulatory exemptions and ring fencing safeguards.
RBI enabled IFSC rules treat financial institutions in the Gandhinagar IFSC as non-resident entities transacting in foreign currency, permit RBI regulated IBUs and regulator specified insurer and capital market activities, require parent bank capital support, exempt certain liabilities from CRR/SLR while denying deposit insurance and central bank liquidity, and mandate ring fenced foreign currency balance sheet operations with limited rupee use and restricted participation in domestic payment and onshore markets.