Double taxation avoidance: India-Singapore tax treaty sets residency, permanent establishment rules and withholding limits.
The Central Government, exercising powers under section 90 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, directs that the Agreement between India and Singapore for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion be given effect in India. The Agreement defines scope, residency, and definitions; allocates taxing rights for business profits (linked to a permanent establishment), immovable property, shipping and air transport; limits withholding on dividends, interest, royalties and technical fees; sets rules on personal services, capital gains and non discrimination; and establishes mutual agreement, information exchange and entry into force provisions.

Customs airport appointment: designated airport authorised for unloading imports and loading export cargo under Customs Act.
Coimbatore airport is designated as a customs airport under clause (a) of section 7 of the Customs Act, 1962, authorising the unloading of imported goods and the loading of export goods or any class of such goods, thereby bringing the airport within customs control for import and export cargo handling.

Coastal port designation enables Dharamtar to handle iron ore pellets, lumps and direct reduced iron under Customs Act powers.
Appointment of Dharamtar Port as a coastal port authorises the port to carry on trade in iron ore pellets, iron ore lumps and direct reduced iron (DRI) under clause (d) of section 7 of the Customs Act, 1962, creating a targeted customs port authorisation for those commodities.

Customs port appointment permits unloading of imported iron ore and export loading of direct reduced iron at Dharamtar.
Designation of Dharamtar as a Customs port authorises unloading of imported iron ore pellets and lumps and loading of direct reduced iron for export under a non tariff notification, establishing port specific customs control for those cargo operations.

Delegation of authority: Amendment permits the Collector of Customs to act alongside the Central Government under the tourist vehicle exemption.
The Government, exercising powers under section 25(1) of the Customs Act, amends Notification No. 296-Cus by substituting in condition (2) of column 4, serial 1 the words "the Central Government" with the words "the Central Government or the Collector of Customs", thereby permitting the Collector of Customs to exercise the authority previously referenced solely to the Central Government for the exemption concerning vehicles imported by tourists.

Exemption for duty free licence holders: procedural condition tied to Rules 156A and 156B now withdrawn.
Exemption to goods supplied to a person holding a duty free import licence is amended: the Central Government, under section 5A of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, has directed that in Notification No. 82/92 Central Excises dated 27 August 1992, condition (iii) shall be omitted, thereby removing the previously prescribed procedural condition governing such exemptions.

Nomination authority shift to securities regulator alters appointment and decision-making under rule ten of securities rules.
The draft substitutes the authority named in rule 10 of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957 so that nominees and the agency exercising the functions formerly ascribed to the Central Government are vested in the securities market regulator; the amendment is titled as the Fourth Amendment Rules, 1994 and will come into force on final publication in the Official Gazette, with a statutory consultation period during which objections and suggestions may be submitted for consideration.

Excise duty on monofilament graded by availability of input duty credit, with a lower rate where no credit is claimed.
The notification substitutes the table entry for tariff headings 5406.11 and 5406.12 to impose differential ad valorem excise duties on monofilament of high density polyethylene and polypropylene, providing a lower duty rate when no input duty credit has been claimed under the Central Excise Rules and a higher rate for all other cases.

Excise duty exemption: no recovery of excess excise on condensing or cooling machinery cleared during specified period.
Government directed that where a prevailing practice led to non-levy of excise beyond a specified ad valorem rate on machinery for condensing or cooling during a specified period, any excess duty otherwise leviable shall not be required to be recovered for clearances effected in that interval.

Customs exemption for fish and crustaceans: imports from Bangladesh, Korea and Sri Lanka relieved from duty under amended tariff.
The Central Government, invoking its Customs Act powers, amended a prior customs notification to substitute the tariff entry against serial entry one with "03.01 to 03.06" and to omit the second serial entry, effecting duty relief for fish and crustacean imports from Bangladesh, Korea and Sri Lanka.

Customs airport designation enables Bhubaneshwar airport to handle export loading and import unloading under statutory authority.
Appointment of Bhubaneshwar airport as a customs airport designates it as an official point for the loading of export goods and the unloading of imported cargo under powers conferred by clause (a) of section 7 of the Customs Act, 1962, enabling customs control and application of customs processes at the airport for such classes of goods.

Customs duty exemption for specified goods imported from China via designated land routes, covering listed raw materials and animal products.
The Central Government exempts a specified list of goods imported from China via the Gunji-Pulan and Namgaya-Shipkila land routes from the whole of customs duty and the whole of the additional duty under section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act, covering animal products, raw materials, dairy and food items, and textile inputs when imported by those routes.

Rounding of dividend and interest to nearest rupee allowed; fractional paise to be rounded up or ignored accordingly.
Rule 23 authorises rounding of amounts payable as dividend to shareholders and interest to debenture-holders under the Companies Act, 1956 to the nearest rupee: fractional paise of fifty paise or more shall be increased to one rupee, and fractional paise less than fifty paise shall be ignored.

Share certificate paper-size requirement removed; Rule 8 amended to omit the specified printing-size, effective on Gazette publication.
The Companies (Issue of Share Certificates) Amendment Rules, 1994 amend rule 8 of the Companies (Issue of Share Certificates) Rules, 1960 by omitting the words and figures that specified the paper size on which a share certificate shall be printed; the amendment is made under the enabling provision of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 642 of the Companies Act and is effective on Gazette publication.

Exemption for penicillin precursor imports allows duty-free entry when used to manufacture specified bulk antibiotic intermediates.
Amendment substitutes the annexed table entry to exempt Potassium penicillin G first crystals, Potassium penicillin G crude, Potassium penicillin V first crystals and Penicillin V acid first crystals when imported for the manufacture of specified antibiotic intermediates or their corresponding bulk drugs, thereby clarifying which penicillin precursors qualify for duty-free treatment under the cited customs exemption.

Exchange rate determination for export goods sets official currency conversion rates under the Customs Act effective August first.
Determines rate of exchange for conversion between specified foreign currencies and Indian rupees for export goods, effective from the first day of August, 1994, exercising statutory power and superseding the prior notification dated June 27, 1994. Operative Schedules set rupee equivalents: Schedule I for one unit of listed currencies and Schedule II for one hundred units of listed currencies, to be applied for customs conversion of export goods from the effective date.

Exchange rate determination for imported goods fixes conversion rates for stamp duty and customs valuation effective August onset.
Prescribes the rate of exchange conversions for specified foreign currencies for calculating stamp duty under the Indian Stamp Act and for purposes of the Customs Act in relation to imported goods; fixes rupee equivalents in Schedule I and Schedule II and makes those rates effective from 1 August 1994.

Schedule VI exemption: heavy water produced by National Fertilisers Ltd excluded from specified Schedule VI requirements by notification.
The Central Government, invoking clause (a) of sub section (1) of section 620 of the Companies Act, 1956, directs that item (a) of sub paragraph (i) and sub paragraph (ii) of paragraph 3 of Part II of Schedule VI shall not apply to National Fertilisers Ltd., New Delhi in respect of heavy water produced by it; the notification was laid in draft before both Houses of Parliament under sub section (2) of section 620.

Bench allocation rules empower the Chairman to require multi-member hearings and transfer cases to the Principal Bench.
Amendments redefine Bench, Member and add Vice-Chairman; substitute Regulation 4 to empower the Chairman to designate certain company law and monopolies-related matters for hearing by a multi-member Principal Bench located at New Delhi (which may sit elsewhere), permit single-member benches to deal with other matters including interlocutory directions, and authorize the Chairman to transfer matters from Regional Benches to the Principal Bench for reasons recorded in writing; Regulations 5 and 6 are omitted.

Exemption from books of account requirement: accrued interest on loans may be omitted from books if disclosed in annual accounts.
The Central Government directs that clause (b) of sub section (3) of section 209 shall not apply to Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd. insofar as it relates to income from interest on loans and advances; provided that any accrued interest income not accounted for in the books is disclosed by way of a note in the annual accounts.