Excise exemption withdrawal for defence supplies by ordinance factories and defence PSUs, amendments effective from June.
The Government amends Notifications No. 62/1995 and No. 63/1995 by directing omission of specified table entries, thereby withdrawing the excise and customs duty exemptions applicable to goods manufactured for and supplied to the Ministry of Defence by the Ordinance Factory Board and Defence PSUs; the amendment takes effect from the stated effective date.

Capacity determination for tobacco packing machines revised; monthly deemed production per machine updated and pro rata annual capacity applied.
The amendment revises the method for deeming monthly production per chewing tobacco or unmanufactured tobacco packing machine by linking retail sale price bands and machine speed categories to specific deemed production entries in a substituted Table-2, and inserts a proviso requiring the annual capacity for 30 April 2015 to be calculated pro rata based on April's total days.

Cenvat credit of education cesses allowed to be used for excise duty on inputs, capital goods and input services.
Permits utilization of Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Education Cess credit for payment of excise duty under the First Schedule to the Excise Tariff Act where such cesses are paid on inputs, capital goods received in the factory of manufacture of the final product (including a provision for balance credit on capital goods received in the prior financial year) and on input services received by the manufacturer of the final product, subject to the commencement provisions set out in the amendment to rule 3(7)(b) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004.

Central Excise notification amendment: substitution of listed beneficiary name altering entitlement to a specified exemption.
The Government, invoking its executive amendment power, substitutes the name of the beneficiary in List 11, item No. 75 of the principal Central Excise notification, replacing the previously listed entity with RattanIndia Power Limited, effecting a targeted transfer of the exemption entry while leaving other provisions unchanged.

Service Exports from India Scheme: excise exemption when goods cleared against registered duty credit scrip, subject to compliance.
Goods in the Fourth Schedule are exempted from excise duties when cleared against a SEIS duty credit scrip, subject to registration of the scrip with the Customs Authority, presentation with supplier/manufacturer invoice details identifying the jurisdictional Central Excise Officer and goods particulars, Customs debiting of duties on the scrip and written advice to the Officer, an undertaking by the scrip holder to pay any short debit with interest, endorsement and validation by the Central Excise Officer, and retention of attested copies by the manufacturer. Electronic scrips follow analogous electronic procedures and entitlement to drawback or CENVAT credit is preserved.

Exemption from excise duty for goods cleared under MEIS requires scrip debiting, validation, and entitlement to drawback or credit.
Goods cleared against a duty credit scrip under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme are exempt from specified excise and additional duties, subject to registration of the scrip with the Customs Authority, presentation of the scrip with supplier details, Customs debiting of duties on the scrip and communication to the jurisdictional Excise Officer, the scrip-holder's undertaking to rectify any short debit, endorsement and validation by the Excise Officer, retention of attested debited and endorsed scrip copies by the manufacturer, and entitlement of the scrip holder to claim drawback or CENVAT credit against the validated debited amount.

Exemption scrip issuance restricted where prior customs notification conditions were breached, barring scrips issued in violation.
The amendment substitutes the second proviso to condition (a) of paragraph 2 in Notification No.33/2012-Central Excise to provide that an exemption scrip shall not be treated as valid where it was issued in violation of the conditions contained in the specified sub-paragraphs and provisos of certain customs notifications, thereby conditioning administrative recognition of the scrip on compliance with those customs notification requirements.

Post Export EPCG duty remission: excise exemption on goods cleared against registered duty credit scrip with procedural safeguards.
Exemption is granted for goods cleared against a registered Post Export EPCG duty credit scrip, exempting whole excise duties under the First and Second Schedules and specified additional duties, subject to prescribed registration, presentation of supplier/manufacturer invoice to identify the jurisdictional Central Excise Officer, Customs debiting duties on the scrip with records and written advice to the Officer, scrip validity limits, an undertaking to cover any short debit with interest, endorsement and validation of clearances by the Central Excise Officer, retention of attested scrip copy by the manufacturer, and entitlement of the holder to drawback or CENVAT credit of duties debited and validated.

Correction to notification wording clarifies clause wording by amending terminal phrase punctuation in the Central Excise text.
Corrigendum to Notification No. 6/2015 - Central Excise corrects clause 8, sub clause (a) of the original notification by substituting the terminal phrase "as the case may be" with "as the case may be.", thereby making a punctuation amendment to the operative wording.

Correction to rule reference updates cross reference from rule 11 to rule 10 in a central excise notification.
In notification 8/2015 - Central Excise (Non Tariff), dated 1st March, 2015, in clause four after sub clause (c) of the Explanation the phrase "For the purposes of rule 11 and this rule" is to be read as "For the purposes of rule 10 and this rule."

Corrigendum to central excise notification corrects specified cross reference entries, substituting clause numbers in the published text.
Corrigendum to Notification No. 12/2015 Central Excise directs substitutions of cross reference numerals in the Gazette publication: specified page and line entries are to be read with corrected numeric references to amend transcription errors in the original notification, as issued by the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue.

Clean Energy Cess exemption limits excess levy, exempting goods from levy above specified per tonne rate.
Exempts goods subject to the Clean Energy Cess from levy to the extent the cess exceeds the amount calculable at the rate of Rs. 200 per tonne, capping the effective per tonne cess liability, under powers of the Finance Act, 2010 and the Central Excise Act, 1944; the notification was issued 1 March 2015 and later rescinded by a subsequent notification.

Rescinding notifications of central excise exemptions removes specified earlier exemptions while preserving actions taken before rescission.
The Central Government, invoking powers under section 5A(1) of the Central Excise Act read with specified Finance Act provisions, rescinds two specified central excise exemption notifications, withdrawing their prospective effect while expressly preserving effects of actions or omissions completed before the rescission.

Excise rate adjustment for DTA clearances from EOUs/EHTP/STP units updates specified tariff table entries.
The notification amends Notification No. 23/2003-Central Excise by omitting serial numbers 1A and 1B from the table and substituting revised excise rates in column (4) against serial numbers 5A, 6 and 7A for clearances from EOUs, EHTP and STP units to the Domestic Tariff Area.

Exemption from Secondary and Higher Education Cess removes the cess on First Schedule goods, including goods from fully export oriented units.
Exemption from Secondary and Higher Education Cess is granted on all goods falling within the First Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985, under section 5A of the Central Excise Act read with sections 136 and 138 of the Finance Act, 2007, removing the whole of the cess leviable thereon; the exemption also applies to excisable goods produced or manufactured by fully export oriented units brought to any other place in India in accordance with the Foreign Trade Policy.

Education Cess exemption removes cess liability on First Schedule central excise goods, including specified export oriented unit transfers.
Exempts from Education Cess all goods in the First Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985, removing the whole of the cess leviable under the Finance Act; the exemption extends to excisable goods produced or manufactured by a hundred per cent export oriented unit and brought to any other place in India in accordance with the Foreign Trade Policy.

Excise exemption for agarbatti: goods consumed within the factory for agarbatti manufacture exempted from central excise duty.
The amendment adds a new tariff entry to Notification No. 10/96-Central Excise making full exemption from excise duty available for goods consumed within the factory in the manufacture of agarbatti, by inserting a new serial entry in the notification table under powers conferred by the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Excise duty amendment updates tariff entries and exemptions, revising rates and adding sector specific concessional and nil entries.
Amendment to the Central Excise tariff notification extends the expiry proviso by one year and implements multiple table amendments: substitution, deletion and insertion of tariff entries and duty rates (many raised to 12.5% or given specified ad valorem/amount rates), and inserts sectoral nil or concessional entries for specified goods and inputs. The Annexure is amended to link customs exemption conditions to this exemption, to extend prescribed term lengths, and to add conditions denying exemption where CENVAT credit was taken and requiring a Ministry of New and Renewable Energy certificate for certain exemptions; List 8 item (5) is deleted.

Excise exemption for high speed diesel caps additional duty above prescribed rate under statutory excise powers.
Exemption to high speed diesel removes liability for additional excise duty insofar as such duty exceeds the amount calculated at the specified per litre rate, limiting additional duty payable on high speed diesel under the applicable Central Excise Tariff.

Resident firm designation expands eligible persons for advance rulings under Central Excise, clarifying included firm types and residency.
Specification designates resident firm as a class of person eligible for advance rulings under sub-clause (iii) of clause (c) of section 23A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, and explains that "firm" includes limited liability partnerships, LLPs without a company partner, sole proprietorships, and One Person Companies, while "resident" is to be understood by reference to the Income-tax Act's definition insofar as it applies to a resident firm.