GST exemption amendment expands railway services coverage and revises accommodation service exclusions under the Uttar Pradesh notification.
Amendment to the Uttar Pradesh GST exemption notification inserts new entries for services supplied by Ministry of Railways to individuals, services supplied by one railway zone or division to another, and services supplied by Special Purpose Vehicles to the Ministry of Railways in relation to infrastructure use and maintenance, all at nil rate. It also revises the accommodation services entry by excluding student residences, hostels, camps and paying guest accommodations, and inserts a further entry for long-duration accommodation services subject to a value threshold, with effect from 15 July 2024.

Uttar Pradesh GST rate changes revise treatment of paperboard cartons, milk cans, solar cookers, and packaged farm produce.
Revised Uttar Pradesh GST rate schedule by inserting and substituting entries for cartons and cases of paperboard, milk cans of iron, steel or aluminium, solar cookers, and parts of brooders, while adjusting exclusions for certain paperboard goods and domestic-use items. It also clarified that agricultural farm produce supplied in packages exceeding 25 kilogram or 25 litre is not treated as a supply of pre-packaged and labelled goods, notwithstanding the Legal Metrology Act, 2009.

Extension of time for export of Red Sanders heart wood granted; Odisha department must finalise modalities and complete exports within specified period.
Extension of time granted to the Forest, Environment & Climate Change Department, Government of Odisha to finalise the modalities for export of Red Sanders Heart Wood in log form and to complete the authorised exports within a further period from the date of the notification; all other provisions of the earlier notifications remain unchanged.

Pay revision for Competition Commission members sets consolidated salaries and removes house and car entitlements effective from publication.
The amendment substitutes rule 3 of the 2003 Rules to prescribe consolidated monthly salaries for the Chairperson and Members of the Competition Commission of India, removes entitlement to house and car, declares the pay provision effective from the 1st day of January, 2024, is made under section 63(2)(d) read with section 14(1) of the Competition Act, and states retrospectivity will not adversely affect any person, with the rules coming into force on publication in the Official Gazette.

SCOMET updates 2024: Amendment to export control list; export authorisation required; effective after 30 days.
Notification No.25/2024 amends Appendix 3 (SCOMET) to Schedule 2 of the ITC (HS) Classification, publishing the revised SCOMET list on the DGFT portal and making the amendments effective after 30 days. Export of SCOMET items continues to require export authorisation unless exempted; supplies from DTA to SEZ/EOU are exempt from authorisation but require supplier reporting to the SEZ Development Commissioner and annual reporting to DGFT. Prior DGFT permission is mandated for arrangements enabling foreign site visits or access to records.

Export exemption of petrol and diesel to Bhutan removes RIC charge and updates Central Excise tariff entries.
Amends Notification No. 10/2022 to exempt motor spirit (petrol) and high speed diesel exported to Bhutan from the road infrastructure cess by substituting entries for existing S. Nos. 1 and 2 to apply to exports to countries other than Bhutan, inserting new tariff table entries under heading 2710 for petrol (S. No. 1A) and diesel (S. No. 3) that specify nil per litre treatment, and omitting paragraph 2. The amendment is effective from 3rd September, 2024.

Exemption of fuel exports to Bhutan: Special Additional Excise Duty waived for petrol and diesel exports.
Inserts specific table entries exempting Motor spirit (petrol) and High speed diesel oil when cleared for export to Bhutan by prescribing a nil per litre rate for those exports, substitutes the prior entries for exports to countries other than Bhutan, and omits paragraph 2 of the principal notification; the amendment takes effect on the stated commencement date.

Excise exemption for aviation turbine fuel exports to Bhutan extends nil additional duty to such shipments.
Amends the excise exemption framework to treat exports of Aviation Turbine Fuel to Bhutan as exempt from the Special Additional Excise Duty by substituting the prior entry and inserting a new serial entry specifying that Aviation Turbine Fuel cleared for export to Bhutan is chargeable at nil per litre, thereby extending the scope of the exemption to include Bhutanian-bound exports; the amendment takes effect the day after notification.

Machine registration and reporting: manufacturers must register packing machines, update capacities, upload engineer certificates, and file monthly production statements.
Notification requires manufacturers of specified pan masala and tobacco products to register packing/filling machines in FORM GST SRM-I, report installations, disposals and capacity changes within prescribed timelines, obtain system-generated machine registration numbers, and upload any prior declarations to other agencies. A monthly FORM GST SRM-II must be filed reporting inputs, machine-wise brand production, package counts, MRP totals and detailed power consumption. FORM GST SRM-III requires a Chartered Engineer certificate for declared or amended machines. The measures are effective from 1 April 2024 and apply to listed tariff items.

Commencement of Karnataka GST Amendment: staggered enforcement of sections with different effective dates for implementation.
Appoints commencement dates for provisions of the Karnataka Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act, 2024: the provisions of section 4 commence on the 1st day of October, 2024, and the provisions of sections 2 and 3 commence on the 1st day of April, 2025, by notification under sub section (2) of section 1 of the Amendment Act.

Sea cargo manifest transitional provisions receive phased, port-specific expiry dates for compliance with transshipment requirements.
The amendment replaces the uniform end date for transitional provisions under regulation 15(2) with port-specific applicability periods. Transitional provisions continue for designated Customs Ports until dates specified in a newly inserted table referenced in regulation 14(2). It provides a phased expiry of transitional arrangements for sea cargo manifest and transshipment compliance.

GST amendment rules update GSTR-1A reporting, ITC distribution, refunds, appeals, and demand recovery procedures.
The Andhra Pradesh Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Rules, 2024 introduce changes to registration, outward supply reporting, input tax credit distribution, refunds, e-way bill enrolment, demand recovery, and appellate procedure under the APGST Rules, 2017. The amendments align multiple rules and forms with FORM GSTR-1A, revise reporting thresholds and return timelines, and prescribe detailed mechanisms for Input Service Distributor credit allocation, post-export refund claims, and Canteen Stores Department refunds. They also update appeal, withdrawal, and payment-adjustment procedures and revise the related statutory forms.

Tariff value fixation updates establish revised import valuation rates for edible oils, brass scrap, gold, silver and areca nut.
The Board amends the central non-tariff customs notification under section 14(2) of the Customs Act by substituting revised tariff value tables for TABLE-1, TABLE-2 and TABLE-3, fixing US dollar per metric tonne values for specified edible oils, brass scrap and areca nut, and per-unit values for defined categories of gold and silver, including descriptive qualifiers and an explanatory exclusion; the notification specifies its commencement and references the principal 2001 notification and recent amendments.

Special Additional Excise Duty reduction on petroleum crude via substitution of tariff entry, effective immediately.
Substitutes, in the Table of Notification No. 18/2022-Central Excise, the entry in column (4) against S. No. 1 with the specified tariff amount for Special Additional Excise Duty on production of Petroleum Crude, effected under statutory powers conferred by the Central Excise Act and the Finance Act; the amendment comes into force on the 31st day of August, 2024.

Institutional approval for scientific research enables deduction eligibility from specified assessment years under income tax rules.
Advanced Manufacturing Technology Development Centre, Chennai is approved as an Other Institution under the category 'University, College or Other Institution' for Scientific Research for purposes of clause (ii) of sub-section (1) of section 35 of the Income tax Act read with Rules 5C and 5E, with effect from publication in the Official Gazette and applied retrospectively to the specified assessment years.

National Savings Scheme: balances from 1 October 2024 bear no interest; earlier balances earned 7.5% interest credited annually.
The amendment to rule 6(1) provides that for the period from 1 March 2003 until before 1 October 2024 balances earn interest at seven-and-a-half per cent per annum on the lowest balance between the close of the tenth day and month, with interest calculated and credited annually; and that balances on or after 1 October 2024 shall bear no interest.

Special Economic Zone de-notification reduces an apparel-sector zone after approvals, with released land reserved for supporting infrastructure.
Central Government de-notifies 17.6264 hectares from the sector-specific Apparel Sector Special Economic Zone at Ahmedabad, Gujarat, reducing the notified SEZ area to 20.4149 hectares. The action is taken under the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 and the Special Economic Zones Rules, 2006 after fulfilment of applicable requirements. The released land includes specified plots and road areas and is intended for infrastructure creation serving the SEZ's originally envisaged objective.

Public float requirement reduced for IFSC-listed companies, with related listing eligibility provisions modified accordingly.
The Rules now define International Financial Services Centre and International Financial Services Centres Authority as per the IFSC Authority Act, 2019. For companies seeking listing on a recognised IFSC stock exchange, the public float threshold in certain listing eligibility provisions is reduced and specific sub-clauses are rendered inapplicable. Similarly, for companies already listed in an IFSC, designated sub-rules are to be read with a lower public float requirement and a stated proviso does not apply to them. These amendments commence on publication in the Official Gazette.

Appeal procedure under section 107: manual filing accepted without deposit, acknowledgement and summary required for transitional credit disputes.
Special procedure requires appeals relating to transitional credit under sections 73/74 to be filed in duplicate on ANNEXURE-1 and presented manually; filing time is computed from the later of the notification or order date, and prior appeals are deemed compliant. No pre-deposit under section 107(6) is required. Appeals must include relevant documents and a self-certified copy of the order, be signed as prescribed, and will be treated as filed only upon issuance of FORM GST APL-02 acknowledgement. The Appellate Authority must issue a summary in ANNEXURE-2 with its order.

Commencement of Delhi GST amendments: specified provisions brought into force via staged executive notification.
The Lieutenant Governor, exercising commencement powers under the Delhi Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Act, 2024, by notification dated 28 August 2024, appoints staged commencement: the majority of the amendment provisions to commence on the first day of October, 2023, and a specified block of provisions to commence on the first day of August, 2023.