Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2022 23 issues tradable, demat eligible gold bonds with 2.5% interest and specified subscription limits.
The Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2022 23 issues Gold Bonds as Government of India Stock to eligible resident persons and entities, in one gram denominations with annual subscription ceilings (4 kg for individuals/HUF; 20 kg for trusts). Bonds carry 2.50% fixed interest payable semi annually, are issued at a nominal value linked to the three day average 999 purity gold price (Rs.50 per gram discount for digital payments), are tradable and dematerialisable, redeemable at eight years with premature redemption after five years, and feature taxable interest but exempt capital gains on redemption for individuals.

e-KYC setu authentication permitted under Aadhaar Act, enabling identity verification without disclosing full Aadhaar number.
The notification permits entities onboarded under the Aadhaar Act to use the e-KYC setu system for section 11A purposes if the system meets Aadhaar privacy and security standards; NPCI will enable authentication without disclosing full Aadhaar numbers and will share digitally signed demographic details and the last four digits of Aadhaar with reporting entities, while NPCI and UIDAI must ensure compliance, maintain lists of onboarded and discontinued entities, and notify regulators of such actions within seven days.

Official website governance requires government-domain hosting, current public information, cybersecurity safeguards, and security audits before launch and major updates.
Website design, development and maintenance must conform to applicable governmental and agency guidelines, and the website must be registered under the gov.in or nic.in domain. Hosting arrangements must account for networking, storage, security, backups and disaster recovery. Content may be organised for easy access and archival retrieval, with outdated material removed or archived to maintain accuracy. Security safeguards must address cyber threats and natural disasters, with security audits by CERT-In-empanelled agencies required before hosting and after major updates.

Electoral bond amendment: additional short election-period purchase window specified by Central Government in assembly poll years.
The Electoral Bond (Amendment) Scheme, 2022 inserts into paragraph 8 of the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018 a provision permitting the Central Government to specify an additional period of fifteen days in the year of general elections to the Legislative Assembly of States and Union territories with Legislature; the Scheme is made under Section 31(3) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 and takes effect on publication in the Official Gazette.

Risk-based AML/CFT compliance requires customer verification, beneficial ownership checks, ongoing monitoring, and suspicious transaction reporting for regulated entities.
Regulated Entities must undertake Customer Due Diligence after assigning risk ratings, identify and verify customers and beneficial owners, understand the purpose of business relations, and conduct ongoing transaction scrutiny. High-risk relationships require enhanced measures, including source-of-wealth and source-of-funds examination, Senior Management approval and closer monitoring; simplified measures may apply only to low-risk relationships and never where ML/TF is suspected. Verification may be deferred only in low-risk cases with safeguards, but must be completed within the prescribed period; otherwise relationships must be suspended or terminated. CDD information requires risk-based periodic updating.

International branch campus registration permits accredited foreign education providers to offer recognised finance and technology programmes under continuing regulatory oversight.
Foreign Universities must rank within the top 500 of the latest QS global overall or subject ranking, while Foreign Educational Institutions must be reputable in their home jurisdiction. Applicants must demonstrate financial capacity, suitable infrastructure and continuity of operations, and file governance approval, academic and financial plans, student-contingency arrangements, a degree-equivalence undertaking and a home-jurisdiction quality audit. Following expert appraisal, the Authority may grant in-principle approval, followed by conditional or unconditional registration.

Harmonized Master List updated: Data Centres and Energy Storage Systems added as infrastructure sub-sectors with qualifying definitions.
The notification updates the Harmonized Master List of Infrastructure sub-sectors by inserting Data Centres under Communication and Energy Storage Systems (ESS) under Energy, each accompanied by footnote definitions and qualifying criteria; the Annexure consolidates the master list across major infrastructure categories and preserves specific descriptive and eligibility specifications for multiple listed sub-sectors.

Addition to export schedule: cashew nuts and its products added, enabling targeted export development measures under the Act.
The Central Government, exercising its amendment power under the Act, adds cashew nuts and its products as a new entry to the First Schedule to bring that commodity within the Authority's export development measures; the notification records the textual insertion of the new serial entry and references prior amendments to the Schedule.

Marine aids to navigation dues prescribed for vessel categories, with GST applicable and rates effective after thirty days.
Marine aids to navigation dues are prescribed for specified categories of ships, including foreign-going ships, container ships, coastal vessels, sailing vessels, and certain government ships. The schedule sets differing rates or nil dues by vessel class, with GST applicable at the notified rates and the charges taking effect after thirty days from notification in the Official Gazette.

Finance company registration aligns licensing, capital, permitted activities, and compliance requirements across core and non-core financial services.
Registration is required where an entity intends to undertake permissible activities not covered by its existing registration or authorisation, while fresh registration is not required for the same already authorised permissible activity. Finance Companies and Finance Units must satisfy applicable establishment, home-regulator, and minimum owned-fund conditions. Core activities include lending, investment, derivatives, factoring, financial leasing, and treasury activities; non-core activities include merchant banking, advisory, portfolio management, operating leases, product distribution, and specified support services. Non-core-only entities may make liquidity and balance-sheet management investments without those investments becoming core activities.

Foreign contribution regulation amendments expand thresholds, extend compliance timelines and permit electronic submissions.
The amendment raises the monetary threshold for a specified regulatory trigger, extends multiple statutory time periods for responses and notices, omits one clause of Rule 13, and replaces the "on a plain paper" submission requirement with an enabling provision permitting submissions in forms and manners, including electronic form, as specified by the Central Government.

IFSC banking offices gain defined roles for administrative support, product marketing, data collection and outreach under specified conditions.
The amendments redefine a Banking Unit as a licensed financial institution undertaking permissible activities and introduce Global Administrative Offices and Representative Offices in IFSCs. A Global Administrative Office may coordinate operations or provide support services to a Parent Bank and its Group entities, subject to relevant foreign regulatory directions for activities outside the IFSC. A Representative Office may market financial products, collect data and conduct outreach operations. Parent Banks may establish these offices through a suitable mechanism subject to specified conditions.

Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2022-23 issues gram-denominated government bonds with 2.5% interest, 8-year maturity, and defined investment limits.
The Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2022-23 issues Government of India Stock in gram-denominated bonds to resident individuals, HUFs, trusts, charitable institutions and universities, with minimum one gram and annual ceilings of 4 kg (individuals/HUF) and 20 kg (trusts). Nominal value is fixed by a three-day simple average of 999 purity gold prices; online digital payments receive a Rs.50/gram discount. Bonds pay 2.50% p.a. interest half-yearly, mature in eight years with premature redemption after year five, are tradable, transferable, may be used as loan collateral subject to LTV norms, and feature specified tax treatment for interest and capital gains.

Misleading advertisement prevention: standards for truthful claims, endorsements, bait, surrogate and children-targeted advertising.
Guidelines set a regulatory framework to prevent misleading advertisements and govern endorsements, applicable to all advertisements and to advertisers, agencies, manufacturers, service providers and endorsers. Advertisements must be truthful, not exaggerate claims, be verifiable, and comply with sector-specific law; occasional unintentional lapses are tolerated if typical specimens can fulfil claims, failures are within acceptable limits and corrective action is taken. Special rules prohibit surrogate advertising, regulate bait and free-offer claims, restrict children-targeted advertising, require genuine endorsements and disclosure of material connections, and mandate prominent, non-contradictory disclaimers.

Classification of courses as financial service: foreign university programs in Financial Management, FinTech and STEM within IFSC notified.
Central Government, under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019, notifies that courses offered by foreign universities or foreign institutions in the International Financial Services Centre in Financial Management, FinTech, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are designated as a financial service, and the notification takes effect upon publication in the Official Gazette.

Tariff classification correction clarifies a statutory commodity code in the Finance Act publication.
A corrigendum to the Finance Act, 2022 directs that in the Gazette publication at the specified page and line the entry "6207 29 20" be read as "6208 29 20," correcting the statutory text to clarify the intended tariff classification.

Performance Review Committee oversight establishes annual reviews of legal compliance, governance transparency, and institutional risk management.
The Performance Review Committee reviews the Authority's functioning annually for legal compliance, transparency and governance practices, and risk management. Its compliance review assesses whether regulations conform to applicable law, reduce stakeholder compliance burden, are fair, non-discriminatory and accessible, and provide clear and predictable guidance. Risk review assesses monitoring measures, risk identification, categorisation, mitigation, and records of breaches. The Committee may access relevant records, require employee attendance, examine registered complaints, submit findings, and provide a consolidated annual report for action.

Aadhaar authentication: voluntary identity validation authorised for FINnet system users under the Aadhaar Rules.
Use of Aadhaar authentication services is authorised for validating the identity of FINnet system users on a voluntary basis, pursuant to powers conferred by the Aadhaar Act and in terms of the Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance Rules, 2020, thereby enabling FINnet to employ Aadhaar-based authentication for identity verification under the rule-based framework.

FinTech grant framework supports product development, sandbox testing, sustainable finance, acceleration and listing subject to eligibility and milestones.
Eligible FinTech entities may receive grants for product development, proof-of-concept activities, sandbox experimentation, sustainable-finance solutions, accelerator capacity-building and listing support. Applications undergo eligibility and regulatory due diligence, including KYC-AML, disclosure and corporate-governance compliance, followed by Evaluation Committee recommendations and grant-specific sanction conditions. Disbursement is linked to agreed milestones and ordinarily made on a reimbursement basis. Recipients must operate from the IFSC during relevant programmes, meet applicable incorporation and authorisation requirements after successful completion, and comply with end-use and implementation restrictions.

Insurance web aggregator registration in IFSCs requires fit-and-proper governance, secure platforms, transparent comparisons, and controlled insurance solicitation.
Registration requires the applicant's constitutional documents to include insurance web aggregation as a principal object and restrict its business to web aggregation or insurance broking. Applicants, their controllers, management, Principal Officer and Authorized Verifiers must satisfy disqualification, fit-and-proper, training and examination requirements. Applicants must maintain adequate infrastructure, avoid referral arrangements and conflicts of interest, operate a designated website hosted on an India-based server, appoint a responsible Principal Officer, and maintain prescribed capital and net worth from owned, unencumbered funds.