Corporate status of IEPF Authority confirmed, granting power to hold property, contract and sue or be sued in its name.
Amendment Rule 3A establishes the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority as a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, empowering it to acquire, hold and dispose of movable and immovable property, to contract, and to sue or be sued in its corporate name.

Avoidance of double taxation exempts income from international air transport in one Contracting State from tax in the other.
The Agreement provides that income derived by an enterprise of one Contracting State from operation of aircraft in international traffic shall be exempted from tax in the other Contracting State, extending the exemption to participation in pools, joint airline businesses, international operating agencies, and interest on funds directly connected with such operations; it preserves national assessment rules except where overridden by the Agreement and establishes a Mutual Agreement Procedure, entry into force notifications, effectivity by fiscal year, and termination mechanics.

Exchange of information enables mutual tax assistance and access to bank, ownership and fiduciary records, subject to confidentiality.
The Agreement requires competent authorities of India and Maldives to exchange information foreseeably relevant to tax administration and enforcement, including bank, fiduciary and ownership information, subject to territorial jurisdiction and confidentiality. Requests must state identity, period, nature and tax purpose and demonstrate grounds for believing information exists; the requested Party must use available information-gathering measures, confirm receipt, notify deficiencies promptly, and may decline requests on defined grounds including public policy, legal privilege and disproportionate difficulty.

Customs exemption amendment: substitution of a Table entry revises the operative exemption condition under existing tariff notification.
The Central Government, invoking powers under the Customs Act and acting in the public interest, issues Notification No.47/2016-Customs to substitute the entry in the Table against S.No.335B in column (6) of notification No.12/2012-Customs, thereby modifying the operative exemption condition for that serial entry.

Temporal scope amendment to service tax notification narrows applicability to periods before 1 April 2016.
Amendment to Service Tax Notification No.25/2012 substitutes in entry 62 the words "during the financial year 2015-16" with "during the period prior to 1st April, 2016", thereby altering the temporal scope of the provision; the change is effected under section 93(1) of the Finance Act, 1994 by Notification No.39/2016-Service Tax.

Central Excise amendment changes a tariff table entry, altering the column five classification for a specified serial item.
Substitutes the entry in column (5) against S.No.215A in the Table of notification No.12/2012-Central Excise with the entry "2", under the authority of sub-section (1) of section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, by notification No.33/2016 dated 2nd September 2016.

Export relaxation for Red Sanders wood allows specified seized stock exports through state governments with DGFT authorization.
The prohibition on export of Red Sanders logs is relaxed to allow export of specified confiscated/seized stocks held by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, which may export directly or through authorized entities; exports require Regional Authority export authorization on production of a quantity allocation letter from the respective State Government, and States must finalize modalities and complete exports by the prescribed deadline.

Designation of Special Courts for Companies Act offences to ensure expedited trials for serious imprisonment offences.
Central Government, under section 435(1) of the Companies Act, 2013 and with concurrence of the Chief Justices, designates specified existing Sessions and District Courts as Special Courts to provide speedy trials of Companies Act offences punishable by imprisonment of two years or more, and assigns the territorial jurisdictions in which each designated court shall exercise Special Court jurisdiction.

Anti-dumping duty on imported glass fibre from China PR imposed with producer-specific ad valorem rates and five year duration.
Imposition of ad valorem anti dumping duty on glass fibre under heading 7019 originating in or exported from China PR, with producer specific CIF percentage rates and higher residual rates for other combinations; product scope and express exclusions specified; duty payable in Indian currency for the notified statutory period and calculated using the exchange rate prescribed for bill of entry presentation.

Exchange Rate Determination sets customs conversion rates for specified foreign currencies for import and export goods.
Determination under the Customs Act prescribing conversion rates of specified foreign currencies into Indian rupees for customs purposes, superseding the prior notification and providing two schedules: Schedule I with per unit import and export rates for listed currencies, and Schedule II with rates per one hundred units for currencies quoted accordingly, to be applied in relation to imported and exported goods.

Tariff value fixation updated for specified edible oils, brass scrap, poppy seeds, areca nut, gold and silver under Customs Act.
The Central Board of Excise & Customs has amended the principal notification by substituting new TABLE-1, TABLE-2 and TABLE-3 to fix specific tariff values in US dollars per metric tonne (and unit values for precious metals) for listed commodities including various edible oils, crude soybean oil, brass scrap, poppy seeds, areca nuts, and specified gold and silver imports where certain notification benefits are availed, thereby updating the tariff-value framework used for customs valuation and related regulatory purposes.

Due date extension for Form 15G/15H declarations permits delayed uploading for affected filing periods under revised timelines.
Extension of due dates for Form 15G/15H declarations changes upload timelines for payers: declarations from 1.10.2015-31.3.2016 and 1.4.2016-30.6.2016 share an extended October 2016 upload deadline, while declarations from 1.7.2016-30.9.2016 are given an extended December 2016 upload deadline; due dates for the third and fourth quarters of 2016-17 remain as previously specified.

Regional connectivity passenger transport concession grants temporary service tax abatement subject to no CENVAT credit.
A new concessional service-tax entry covers transport of passengers by air embarking from or terminating in a Regional Connectivity Scheme Airport, subject to an abatement on the taxable service and the mandatory condition that the service provider has not taken CENVAT credit on inputs, capital goods or input services used for providing that taxable service; the concession ceases one year after commencement of operations of the notified RCS airport.

Remuneration framework for insolvency board members establishes pay options, allowances, leave, travel and post service restrictions.
Rules set terms for the Chairperson and whole time members of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board: eligibility without prejudicial interests, tenure including casual vacancies and a one year post service employment restriction; remuneration by option between parity with senior Central Government pay or a consolidated salary with pension offset where applicable; allowances, leave entitlements and encashment limits; travel, accommodation, contributory pension subscription, no bonus or sitting fees, medical coverage, and referral of residuary matters to the Central Government. Part time members have specified terms, meeting fees and travel allowances, and the Central Government may relax provisions.

Export allocation revision for Red Sanders wood permits extended export timeframe and subsumes prior export authorizations under amended trade policy.
The notification reallocates the sanctioned export quantity of Red Sanders wood to the Government of Andhra Pradesh, permits export by the State or its authorized entities in log or value added form, subsumes prior exports within the revised allocation, incorporates a separate allocation for DRI, supersedes an earlier public notice, and requires Andhra Pradesh and DRI to finalize modalities and complete exports by the revised deadline, subject to any court orders or submissions.

Contribution to Settlement Guarantee Fund requires exchanges, clearing corporations and members to contribute and replenish shortfalls.
The amendment substitutes regulation 33 to require that the contribution to the Settlement Guarantee Fund specified in regulation 39 be made by the recognised stock exchange, the recognised clearing corporation and the clearing members as specified by the Board, and requires the recognised clearing corporation and recognised stock exchange to replenish any shortfall to the threshold level specified by the Board.

Settlement disqualification criteria clarified: only serious defaults with market wide impact or investor rights harm bar settlement; restitution and admission may permit settlement.
The amendment narrows the settlement bar in regulation 5(2)(b) by specifying that only serious defaults-those with market wide impact, causing substantial investor losses, or affecting investor rights-are disqualified. Applications may still be considered if the applicant intends to make good investor losses and gives a written admission of the charge for the purpose of settlement. Seriousness is assessed by reference to the default's nature, the applicant's role, evidence weight, cooperation, referrals to investigative authorities, and potential systemic risk to financial institutions; market wide impact and investor rights effects are further defined.

Rebate of State Levies on garment exports: disbursal via Customs EDI and e-PAO to exporters' bank accounts.
Scheme provides a mechanism for Rebate of State Levies on Export of Garments to supplement Duty Drawback, funded from the Ministry of Textiles and disbursed via the Customs EDI system through digitally routed payment lists to e-PAO for credit to exporters, with manual shipments routed to PAO. Existing Drawback DDOs are to be designated as rebate DDOs and their DDO codes mapped to customs locations using a prescribed proforma.

Concessional excise duty for aviation turbine fuel from regional connectivity scheme airports introduced with time-limited applicability.
Imposes a concessional basic excise duty rate on Aviation Turbine Fuel drawn by operators or cargo operators from Regional Connectivity Scheme airports by substituting the serial entry for the relevant tariff heading and inserts a proviso limiting the notification's application to that entry after a specified date; issued under the Central Government's statutory amendment powers and linked to prior amendments to the principal notification.

Exchange Rate Notification updates South African Rand customs valuation rates for imports and exports effective late August
Amendment to the customs exchange rate schedule substitutes the South African Rand entry in Schedule-I of Notification No.112/2016-Cus (N.T.), issued under the powers conferred by the Customs Act, effective 27th August, 2016, specifying distinct rupee-equivalent rates for one unit of South African Rand for import valuation and for export valuation.