Approval under section 36(1)(viii): Corporation recognised for providing long term industrial finance for the relevant assessment year.
The Central Government has declared M/s Power Finance Corporation Ltd., New Delhi, to be a corporation engaged in providing long term finance for industrial development and eligible for recognition under section 36(1)(viii) of the Income tax Act for the assessment year 1999-2000.

Money market mutual fund specification requires departmental set up, restricted instruments, NAV disclosure and RBI reporting compliance.
Designation under section 10(23D)(ii) specifies ABN Amro Bank Money Market Mutual Fund as a departmental money market mutual fund operating as Money Market Deposit Accounts (MMDAs), managed by a separate fund manager and subject to RBI and SEBI regulatory conditions. Investments are restricted to specified short term instruments, with a combined individual issuer cap on commercial paper and short term corporate bonds, prohibition on capital market instruments and inter scheme/sponsor lending, mandatory separate accounts and independent audits, NAV calculation and disclosure, minimum fifteen day lock in with repurchase options, and periodic reporting to the Reserve Bank of India.

Specified taxable debentures under section 80L: secured, redeemable non convertible bonds issued with half yearly interest.
Central Government, exercising clause (ii) of sub section (1) of section 80L of the Income tax Act, specifies two series of secured, redeemable, non convertible taxable debentures issued as bonds by the Steel Authority of India Limited with five year tenor and interest payable half yearly, identifying distinctive serial ranges and aggregate issuance for each series.

Cenvat credit admissibility for inputs and capital goods cleared under specified North East notifications, treated as fully paid.
Rules 57JJ and 57V were inserted into the Central Excise Rules, 1944 to provide that where a manufacturer has cleared specified inputs or notified capital goods in the North East Region under the referenced Government notifications, the credit of specified duty paid on such inputs or capital goods shall be admissible as if no portion of the duty paid was exempted under those notifications.

Excise exemption for North East manufacturing units provides refund tied to prescribed value addition rates and special rate option.
Excise exemption applies to specified goods manufactured and cleared from eligible North East units by exempting duty equivalent to the duty attributable to value addition. The notification sets prescribed Table rates by chapter for computing duty on value addition, limits refunds to duty paid other than by CENVAT credit, and provides monthly filing, verification and refund procedures. Manufacturers may instead take the refundable amount as account current credit under conditions, or apply for a Commissioner fixed special rate based on audited actual value addition, with provisional refunds and subsequent adjustments.

Excise duty exemption for goods from designated North East industrial zones enabling refund or credit based on value addition rates.
Exemption from central excise duty is provided for goods manufactured and cleared from units located in specified Growth Centres, Integrated Infrastructure Development Centres, Export Promotion Industrial Parks, Industrial Estates, Industrial Areas, Commercial Estates or Scheme Areas in North East states, excluding listed goods and specified refinery units. The benefit equals duty on value addition determined by fixed Table rates or a commissioner fixed special rate based on audited actual value addition, with procedural conditions for CENVAT credit utilisation, filing monthly statements, refund or account current crediting, verification, and recovery of irregular credits.

Credit rating agency regulation established under SEBI Act powers, creating a regulatory framework for such agencies.
Establishes the SEBI (Credit Rating Agencies) Regulations, 1999, promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India under the powers conferred by section 30 read with section 11 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992, and notified in the Gazette to govern credit rating agencies.

Appointment of Auditor: Board may appoint auditors to inspect market intermediaries and recover inspection expenses.
The amendment empowers the Board to appoint an auditor to inspect or investigate the books, records, documents, infrastructures, systems, procedures and affairs of a depository, participant, beneficial owner, issuer or its agent with the same powers as inspecting officers, and makes the inspected parties subject to the same obligations; the Board may recover from those entities expenses incurred for such inspections or investigations, including auditors' fees.

Tax exemption under section 10(23C)(iv) notified for Swadeshi Jagran Foundation, subject to application and investment conditions.
Notification under section 10(23C)(iv) designates Swadeshi Jagran Foundation as eligible for the specified tax treatment for assessment years 1998-99 to 2000-2001, subject to conditions that income be applied or accumulated wholly and exclusively to its objects; investments and deposits (except certain voluntary contributions) be limited to permitted forms; and business income be excluded unless incidental to the objects and maintained in separate books.

Exemption from enquiry for stock brokers upon membership loss or insolvency, while preserving the right to a hearing.
Amendment inserts a proviso to Regulation 27 specifying that an enquiry need not be held where the stock broker ceases exchange membership, is declared a defaulter and not readmitted within six months, surrenders membership, is declared insolvent by a court, fails to pay prescribed registration or annual fees, voluntarily surrenders its certificate, or is wound up by court order, while preserving the requirement that no action be taken without giving the stock broker an opportunity of hearing; additionally, words requiring communication to the Central Government are omitted from regulation 29(5).

Capital gains reinvestment in specified securities preserves exemption but triggers clawback if disposed within seven years.
The Board specifies that Fully Convertible Debentures and Deep Discount Bonds issued by Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited, to be allotted within one year, qualify for reinvestment of net consideration from transfer of long-term capital assets only if invested in accordance with the reinvestment provision; if such securities are converted, transferred or realised within seven years of allotment, the initial investment is to be taxed as a capital gain.

Specified securities reinvestment: qualifying investment must be held three years or be taxed as capital gain upon realization.
Specification under section 54EA designates Fully Convertible Debentures and Deep Discount Bonds issued by Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited as eligible instruments for reinvestment of net consideration from transfer of long term capital assets, subject to issuance limits and timing. If an assessee transfers or converts the allotted specified securities into money or realizes them within three years of allotment, the initial investment becomes chargeable to tax as capital gain under the section.

Buy-back of securities rules set a regulatory framework for private and unlisted public companies under statutory authority.
The Central Government, under statutory rulemaking power, promulgated the "Private Limited Company and Unlisted Public Limited Company (Buy-back of Securities) Rules, 1999" to establish a regulatory framework for the buy-back of securities by private companies and unlisted public companies, effected by a formal notification from the relevant ministry.

Fees on company applications: prescribed schedules allocate fees by applicant type and impose increased charges for late filings.
Prescribes fees for Central Government applications under the Companies Act: fees for company registration applications vary by authorised share capital and applicant category, fixed fees apply to Section 25 licences and foreign companies; separate reduced fees apply for low value share transfers; specified fees (including nil for the smallest claims) govern applications for payment from the Companies' Liquidation Account; delayed filings attract multiplicative increases of the normal fee.

National Savings Certificate limits increased: rule 20 limit raised to Rs 60,000 and positional ceilings specified.
The amendment to the National Savings Certificate (VIII Issue) Rules, 1989 substitutes Rs. 60,000 for Rs. 20,000 in rule 20(1) and replaces rule 20(2)'s table with a new schedule of monetary ceilings for specified post office authorities, ranging from Rs. 500 to Rs. 60,000; the rules take effect on publication in the Official Gazette under powers conferred by the Government Savings Certificates Act, 1959.

Actual user duty exemption: certificate and officer entry rules now formalise import export documentation and licence conditions.
Amendment requires an Actual User Duty Exemption Entitlement Certificate issued by the Licensing Authority and prescribes that the proper officer record full details of imported inputs in Part C and full particulars of resultant export products in Part E; licences must specify CIF and FOB values and permit imports only under standard input-output norms, and export obligations must be discharged within the licence period by exporting resultant products manufactured in India.

Import for execution of export orders for jobbing: reference replaced by ITC (HS) classification as operative standard.
Amendment to the exemption notification for import for execution of an export order for jobbing substitutes in condition (vii) the words "Export and Import Policy" with "ITC (HS) Classification of Export and Import items as declared by the Government of India, in the Ministry of Commerce," thereby changing the operative reference standard for that condition.

Rescission of customs exemption notifications removes specified prior exemptions in the public interest under Customs Act authority.
The Central Government, exercising authority under section 25(1) of the Customs Act and acting in the public interest, has rescinded a series of miscellaneous customs exemption notifications, thereby terminating the legal effect of those listed instruments and withdrawing the exemptions they previously conferred.

Import exemption for bonafide gifts limited by a value cap, excluding postal and air freight charges from valuation.
Amendment imposes a value limit that bonafide gifts imported by post or as air freight are exempt only where their value does not exceed rupees five thousand, and clarifies that postal charges or air freight shall not be taken into account for determining that value limit.

Import value limits for commercial samples and prototypes revised; postal and air freight excluded from value calculation.
The notification amends Notification No. 154/94 Customs by (i) substituting condition (iv) for serial 3 to impose an import limit measured by value or by unit count within a twelve month period and restating condition (v)(A)(b) to reflect the same aggregate import limit, and by correcting a cross reference; and (ii) substituting condition (ii) for serial 5 to set a per shipment value ceiling for samples or prototypes and revising the Explanation to exclude postal charges and air freight from that value calculation.