Countervailing duty on welded stainless-steel pipes and tubes from China PR and Vietnam, with producer-specific exemptions and time-bound levy.
Countervailing duty is imposed on imports of welded stainless-steel pipes and tubes originating in or exported from China PR and Vietnam, with 29.88% duty for Chinese origin or China-exported goods, NIL duty for two named Vietnamese producers, and 11.96% duty for specified Vietnamese and other covered imports. The duty applies for five years from publication, the customs classification is only indicative, and CIF value is the assessable value under the Customs Act.

Free Trade Warehousing Zone designation approved; Approval Committee constituted and zone deemed an Inland Container Depot.
Notification designates a Free Trade Warehousing Zone in specified villages of Ponneri Taluk, Tamil Nadu, aggregating 42.829 hectares, following grant of a letter of approval under the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005. The Central Government constitutes an Approval Committee with specified ex officio members and a developer representative to oversee the SEZ. The FTWZ is declared to be deemed an Inland Container Depot under the Customs Act, effective from the notified date.

Commencement of Amendments: specified sections of the Competition (Amendment) Act take effect on the appointed date notified by government.
The Central Government designates the 10th day of September, 2024 as the date on which sections 6 to 8, 21 to 24, 28, 30, 34 and 38 of the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023 shall come into force, by notification issued under sub section (2) of section 1 of the Act, thereby operationalising those specific amendments.

Cross-border merger approvals require RBI consent; transferee must apply to Central Government under section 233.
An amendment requires that where a foreign holding company transfers to its Indian wholly owned subsidiary by merger, the parties must obtain prior approval of the Reserve Bank of India; the transferee must comply with Companies Act requirements and apply to the Central Government under the Act with the existing application procedures applying; the prescribed declaration must be made when filing that application.

Leaseback accounting: seller lessees must allocate gains and determine lease payments to exclude amounts attributable to retained use.
The amendment inserts paragraph 102A requiring seller lessees to apply paragraphs 29-35 to the right of use asset and paragraphs 36-46 to the lease liability for leasebacks, and to determine lease payments or revised lease payments so that no recognised gain or loss relates to the right of use retained; gains or losses on lease terminations remain recognised under paragraph 46(a). The amendments mandate retrospective application per Ind AS 8, set the date of initial application at the start of the first annual reporting period of adoption, and take effect for annual periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024.

Transmission of securities: legal heir certificates allowed with indemnity bond and NOC, plus prescribed valuation method.
Rules substitute "securities" for "shares"; allow a legal heir certificate issued by a Tahsildar as alternative evidence; require notarised indemnity bonds and notarised no objection certificates from non claimants when legal heir certificates are used; prescribe valuation for listed securities by prior day closing price and for unlisted by higher of face or maturity value; raise the Part B monetary threshold; permit notarised/apostilled self declarations for foreign nationals with passport and address proof; and require contingency insurance for verification report claims.

Exemption criteria for combinations: specified share and asset acquisitions exempt from prior merger filing when no control or sensitive access.
Categories of combinations are exempted from specified merger-filing requirements where acquisitions do not result in control or confer board representation or access to commercially sensitive information; exemptions include certain underwriting, stockbroker and mutual fund share acquisitions subject to holding caps; passive investment acquisitions without control or information/board rights; incremental share purchases constrained to avoid control or first-time board/information rights; acquisitions of current assets in the ordinary course; non-core investment asset purchases not amounting to substantial business operations; intra-group transfers, group reorganisations and acquisitions pursuant to Commission orders.

Combination criteria allow notice for transactions between non competing, non vertical and non complementary parties under competition law.
A combination may be notified where the parties, their group entities and affiliates do not produce similar or substitutable products or services and are not engaged in activities that are at different production stages or complementary. Parties include ultimate controlling persons, acquirers, acquired enterprises, merged entities and their group members. An affiliate is defined by ten per cent or more shareholding or voting rights, board representation rights as director or observer, or access to commercially sensitive information.

Minimum asset and turnover thresholds set for Competition Act applicability; rule prescribes operative measurement criteria.
Specifies operative thresholds for clause (e) of section 5 of the Competition Act, 2002 by prescribing a defined minimum value of assets and a defined minimum value of turnover as the measurements to determine whether the value of assets or turnover of persons or enterprises meets the statutory threshold; includes commencement and definitional provisions and is issued under section 63(2)(a) of the Act.

Merger control framework clarified: valuation rules, notification forms, filing obligations, scrutiny procedures, and compliance mechanisms.
Regulations create a detailed merger control regime: computing value of transaction for threshold purposes with inclusive rules for consideration and future payments; objective criteria for substantial business operations in India; mandated filing in Form I or Form II with specified supporting schedules, declarations for open offers and green channel, prescribed fees and payment modes; procedures for completeness checks, additional information, conversion between forms, and scrutiny including Director General reports; and processes for publication, modifications, compliance reporting, monitoring, and transitional savings from prior regulations.

SGST rate amendment reduces the specified SGST rate under a state notification, effective on gazette publication.
Amendment substitutes the phrase "half per cent." with "0.25 per cent." in Notification No. 52/2018 State Tax under powers conferred by the Himachal Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, and states that the notification takes effect from the date of its publication in the official gazette.

Annual return exemption for small GST registrants provides filing relief for eligible taxpayers for the specified financial year.
Exempts registered persons whose aggregate turnover in the financial year 2023 24 is up to two crore rupees from filing the annual return for that financial year, the exemption being issued by the State government on the recommendations of the Council under the first proviso to the statutory provision governing annual returns.

Administrative notification amendment: designated officer titles substituted, updating authorised officers for Bihar GST upon notification.
The notification substitutes the entries at serial (i) and (ii) of an earlier Bihar GST notification with the designations "(i) Additional/Joint Commissioner (Tech.), CGST & CX, Patna-1" and "(ii) Senior most Additional Commissioner (Appeal.), Central Division, Patna," respectively, under the Governor's statutory authority, and provides that the amendment shall come into force from the date of its notification.

Salary increase for NFRA Chairperson and members implemented by amendment to appointment and service rules, effective on gazette publication.
The Central Government amends the NFRA Rules by substituting in sub rule (1) of rule 11 specified salary expressions for the Chairperson and full time members with higher fixed amounts; the amendment is effected under sub-section (3) of section 132 of the Companies Act, 2013 and takes effect on publication in the Official Gazette.

Limitation extension for tax recovery extends issuance deadlines for past financial years under Assam GST
The notification extends the time limit for issuance of orders to recover tax not paid or short paid and for correcting wrongly availed or utilised input tax credit for specified past financial years, partially modifying prior notifications; the extension is declared effective from a stated earlier date.

Late fee waiver for final GST return non-filers who filed within prescribed window; excess late fees are waived.
The Governor, on the Council's recommendation under section 128 of the Assam GST Act, waives the portion of late fee under section 47 that exceeds five hundred rupees for registered persons who failed to furnish the final return in FORM GSTR 10 by the due date but who submitted that return during the period from 1 April 2023 to 30 June 2023, with the waiver declared effective retrospectively from 31 March 2023.

Late fee waiver for annual GST returns: capped per-day penalties and limited amnesty for specified late filings.
The notification waives late fee for annual returns under section 44 for 2022-23 onwards by prescribing per-day capped late fees for two turnover classes and an overall cap tied to 0.02 percent of turnover; it also waives late fee in excess of ten thousand rupees for specified earlier-year returns filed between 1 April and 30 June 2023, with effect from 31 March 2023.

Deemed withdrawal of assessment orders where taxpayers file outstanding returns with interest and late fee, irrespective of appeals.
Notification deems certain assessment orders issued on or before 28 February 2023 to be withdrawn if the registered person files the outstanding return by 30 June 2023 and pays the interest liability and late fee under the Act; the benefit applies regardless of the existence or disposal of any appeal and is effective from 31 March 2023.

Extension of revocation application deadline for cancelled GST registrations requires returns filing and payment before filing.
A limited class of persons whose registration was cancelled under clause (b) or (c) of section 29 and who missed the section 30 time limit may apply for revocation within the extended period only after furnishing all returns due to the effective date of cancellation and paying tax, interest, penalty and late fees; no further extension is available.

Late fee waiver for GSTR-4 non-filers who filed delayed returns during the specified filing window, easing GST compliance.
Amendment adds a proviso waiving late fee such that amounts in excess of two hundred and fifty rupees are waived and fully waived where state tax payable is nil, for registered persons who failed to furnish FORM GSTR-4 for specified quarters and financial years by the due date but furnished those returns between April 2023 and June 2023; the notification is deemed effective from 31st March 2023.