Exemptions amendment expands central excise exemptions to include jaggery powder, specified bamboo products, roofing tiles and certain steel inputs.
Amendments insert jaggery powder under heading 1701 and add flattened bamboo boards and bamboo flooring tiles under chapter 44 to the exemption Tables of notifications 1/2011 and 2/2011, and in notification 12/2012 introduce nil-duty entries for specified headings including roofing tiles, exempt certain steel supplied for use in manufacture of listed headings subject to Customs Act conditions, and include particle/fibre board from agricultural residues.

Exemption transferability and conditional import relief expanded, allowing endorsed scrip transfers and actual-user undertakings for capital goods.
Amendments clarify exemptible capital goods and consumables for hotels, service providers and service providers with manufacturing activity, require Regional Authority endorsement of manufacturing on scrips to preserve scrip validity, impose an actual user undertaking and liability with interest for manufacturing-related capital goods and spares, restrict vehicle clearances while permitting professional-use vehicles subject to endorsement and registration, and expand transferable scrip rules to allow endorsed transfers to supporting manufacturers and intra-group manufacturer transferees with specified sector endorsements.

Exemption under Post Export EPCG duty credit scrip permits duty-free clearance subject to Customs registration, debiting, and validation.
Exemption covers Fourth Schedule goods cleared against a Post Export EPCG duty credit scrip, exempting them from whole excise and specified additional duties, subject to conditions: Customs registration of the scrip, presentation with supplier details and jurisdictional Central Excise Officer, Customs debit of duties on the reverse of the scrip with written advice to the Officer, eighteen month validity, holder's undertaking to pay short debits with interest, Officer's endorsement and validation, manufacturer retention of attested debited/endorsed scrip, exclusions under Appendix 37B and non permissible imports, and entitlement to drawback or CENVAT credit against the debited scrip.

Exemption for Project ASTRA equipment subject to pre- and post-clearance certification and specified time limitation.
Amendment creates a conditional excise exemption for equipment and stores for Project ASTRA: claimant must produce a pre-clearance certificate from the Project Director, ASTRA, DRDL, Hyderabad certifying intended use; where goods are used outside the factory of production, the manufacturer must, within five months of clearance or any extended period allowed by the Deputy or Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise, produce a certificate from the Project Director evidencing receipt and actual use; the exemption is time-limited and ceases on a specified future date.

Tariff amendments expand exemptions and revise excise classifications for agricultural goods, carpets, silver, handsets, and motor vehicles.
The notification extends the proviso applicability to 31st March, 2015 and amends the tariff Table to insert, substitute and omit serial entries, creating new nil-rate or specified-rate treatments and refined product descriptions. Key changes include nil or altered treatment for tapioca starch, tapioca sago, peanut butter, certain marine goods and carpets of coir or jute; clarified fertilizer scope; a specific excise entry for silver produced during zinc or lead smelting; differentiated excise rates for mobile handsets by retail price band; and revised excise treatment and percentage retention for motor vehicles, including a defined SUV category.

Zero excise duty route extended to branded ready made garments and made ups via amendment to excise notification.
Amendment substitutes the Table entry against serial number 16 of Notification No.30/2004-Central Excise with the entry "All goods", creating a zero excise duty route for branded ready-made garments and made-ups; the change is made under powers of section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 read with section 3(3) of the Additional Duties of Excise Act, 1957, as effected by Notification No.11/2013-Central Excise.

Exemption notification amendment removes tariff entry for handmade and jute/coir carpets, altering central excise exemptions.
Deletes the tariff entry for handmade carpets and other carpets and floor coverings of jute and coir by omitting serial number 37 and its entries from the Table in Notification No. 2/2011-Central Excise, thereby modifying the scope of miscellaneous central excise exemptions under the statutory powers conferred by the Central Excise Act.

Omission of specified tariff entries from central excise exemption notification removes listed serial entries and alters exemption table.
The Central Government, invoking section 5A(1) of the Central Excise Act, 1944, amends Notification No. 1/2011 Central Excise by directing the omission of serial numbers 72, 111, 112, 113 and 114 and their corresponding entries from the Table, thereby removing those specified goods from the miscellaneous exemptions previously listed.

Excise duty on cotton garments amended to cover branded readymade cotton goods including non-cotton accessories.
Amends Notification No.7/2012-Central Excise by substituting the serial 7 entry to read "All goods of cotton, not containing any other textile material," and clarifies that this includes goods made from cotton fabrics even if they contain sewing threads, cords, labels, elastic tapes, zip fasteners or similar non-cotton items used for stitching, fastening, holding or adornment, thereby changing the tariff treatment of branded readymade cotton garments and made-ups under the Central Excise regime.

Exemption for captive intermediate goods reduces excise on inputs used to make exempt final products within the factory.
Exemption for specified intermediate goods captively consumed within the factory of production in the manufacture of final products that qualify for Area Based Exemption in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand; goods listed in the Annexures to earlier notifications are exempted from excise duty to the extent specified in the Table, subject to tariff classifications in the First Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act; the notification identifies two Annexure-based categories and notes its subsequent rescission.

Rescission of excise notification withdraws concessional duty on mobile handsets while preserving prior actions.
The Central Government, exercising its powers under the Central Excise Act, has rescinded the earlier notification that provided concessional excise treatment for mobile handsets including cellular phones, removing that tariff concession while expressly preserving the effect of actions done or omitted before the rescission.

Compound levy rate for stainless pattis/pattas increased per cold rolling machine per month under amended Central Excise notification.
Amendment substitutes the monetary entry in para 1, item (i) of Notification No.17/2007 Central Excise to increase the compound levy rate for stainless pattis/pattas per cold rolling machine per month, effected by Notification No.5/2013 Central Excise issued under Rule 15 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002.

Exemption for defense missile programme supplies: duty relief if certified by Programme Director and supplied to programme; subject to expiry.
Provides excise exemption for specified machinery, equipment, components, spares, tools, software, raw materials and consumables supplied to the LR-SAM programme of the Ministry of Defence, where, before clearance, a certificate from the Programme Director is produced to the proper officer, and the exemption expires on 25th May, 2013.

Post-export EPCG duty scrip exemption permits excise remission on specified goods subject to procedural validation and safeguards.
Exemption permits remission of central excise and specified additional duties on goods cleared against a Post Export EPCG duty credit scrip, conditional on Customs registration and debit on the scrip, written advice to the jurisdictional Central Excise Officer, endorsement and validation of clearances by that Officer based on an undertaking by the scrip-holder, retention of debited and endorsed scrip copies by the manufacturer, exclusion of specified items, eighteen-month scrip validity, and entitlement of the scrip-holder to avail drawback or CENVAT credit against the debited and validated amount.

Post Export EPCG duty credit scrip exemption permits excise-free clearance of specified goods subject to registration, debiting, validation and compliance.
Goods specified in the Central Excise schedules are exempt from excise and additional duties when cleared against a registered Post Export EPCG duty credit scrip (0% variant) issued under paragraph 5.11 of the Foreign Trade Policy, provided Customs debits the scrip, updates records and advises the jurisdictional Central Excise Officer, the holder presents a debited scrip with an undertaking, the Officer validates and endorses clearance particulars, the manufacturer retains an attested copy, the scrip is within its eighteen-month validity, exclusions in Appendix 37B and prohibited imports apply, and the holder may claim drawback or CENVAT credit against the debited amount.

Duty on gold bars revised to specify rates for manufactured gold and silver dore bars under excise notification.
Substitutes the tariff entry for gold bars to impose specified excise rates on gold bars (other than tola bars) bearing manufacturer's engraved serial number and metric weight manufactured from gold ore or concentrate, gold dore bar, or silver dore bar; defines gold dore bar and silver dore bar as dore bars with metal content not exceeding 95% and requires an assay certificate for silver dore bars showing composition.

Corrigendum correcting thermal power project name and capacity entries in a Central Excise tariff notification.
Corrigendum correcting entries in a Gazette-published Central Excise notification by substituting a corrected thermal power project name in List 11 and amending the stated generation capacity for a second listed power project, with specified textual substitutions to replace erroneous text in the original notification.

Exemption for Project ASTRA: equipment and stores exempted from central excise subject to certification and post-clearance verification.
Exemption added for equipment and stores used for systems and sub-systems of Project ASTRA, subject to (i) a pre-clearance certificate from the Project Director, ASTRA, Defence Research and Development Laboratory, Hyderabad presented to the proper officer, and (ii) post-clearance production by the manufacturer, within five months or extended period allowed by the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise, of a Project Director certificate evidencing receipt and actual use when use occurs outside the factory of production.

Excise duty exemption for LR-SAM programme subject to supply to programme and certificate prior to clearance.
The amendment adds an excise duty exemption for specified goods for the LR-SAM Programme where the goods are supplied to the Programme and a certificate from the Programme Director confirming intended use is produced to the proper officer before clearance; the exemption is time-limited and ceases to have effect on or after the stated expiry date.

Correction to exemption list: beneficiary name for a mega power project amended, record updated accordingly.
Corrigendum amends the Central Excise notification's exemptions list by substituting the named beneficiary for item 63 in List 11, sub-para (iii), para (B), replacing the previously published corporate name with the correct corporate name for the 3x382.5 MW project; the project capacity and list placement remain unchanged.