Monthly payment of excise duty allowed for eligible manufacturers; prescribed procedure, payment deadline and interest plus daily penalty on defaults.
Rule 173G.G allows manufacturers eligible under value-based clearance exemptions to discharge monthly excise duty by notifying the Commissioner, assessing duty per consignment and recording particulars in a modified Form RG-1, indicating duty on invoices, aggregating duty for each calendar month and debiting the account-current or specified RG 23A/23C accounts to discharge the total liability within the prescribed post-monthly period.

Depreciation rates revised for new small dwelling buildings and intangible assets, altering allowable written-down value allowances.
Amendment revises depreciation schedules by creating Part A: Tangible Assets and adding a building category conferring a specified depreciation allowance for newly acquired small-plinth-area dwelling-unit buildings acquired within a defined acquisition window, effective from the rules' commencement. It also replaces the intangible-assets section with Part B: Intangible Assets and prescribes a specified written-down value allowance for know-how, patents, copyrights, trademarks, licences, franchises and similar business or commercial rights.

Approval under section 10(23G) grants tax-exempt status to listed infrastructure projects subject to compliance and withdrawal conditions.
Approval is granted to specified infrastructure projects under section 10(23G) read with rule 2E for assessment years 1999-2002, subject to compliance with the exemption provisions, maintenance and audit of books of account, furnishing of audit reports, and the Central Government's authority to withdraw approval upon cessation of infrastructure activity or failure to meet audit and reporting conditions.

Approval under section 36(1)(viii) enables tax-deduction eligibility for a housing finance company subject to compliance conditions.
Approval under section 36(1)(viii) is granted to Manraj Housing Finance Limited, Jalgaon, making it eligible to claim the deduction for providing long-term finance for residential housing, subject to the company's main object being housing finance, creation and maintenance of the required special reserve, annual submission of audited accounts and a statement of deductions before the due date for filing the return of income, and fulfillment of all other statutory conditions for claims under the provision.

Tax exemption notification under section 10(23C)(iv) subjects institutions to income application and permitted investment conditions.
Notification under section 10(23C)(iv) designates Swaminarayan Aksharpith, Ahmedabad as a notified institution subject to conditions: income must be applied or accumulated exclusively for its objects; investments and deposits must be limited to permitted forms; voluntary contributions may be retained as jewellery or furniture; and business income is excluded unless incidental to objects and recorded in separate books.

Approval under section 36(1)(viii) for housing finance deduction granted, subject to reserve and filing compliance.
Approval is granted to M/s Manraj Housing Finance Limited, Jalgaon, under section 36(1)(viii) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, subject to the company's main object of providing long-term finance for residential houses; annual filing of audited accounts and a statement of the deduction by the due date under section 139(1); creation and maintenance of the required special reserve; and fulfillment of all other conditions in section 36(1)(viii).

Approval under section 10(23G) grants tax-exempt status to infrastructure projects subject to compliance and audit requirements.
Specified infrastructure projects received approval for tax-exempt treatment for the assessment years 1999-2000 to 2001-2002, subject to conformity with the related exemption provisions and rules. Approval covers four named projects-a Dabhol power station, a Navi Mumbai container terminal under a BOT/BO T arrangement, lignite-based power plants at Nani Naroli, and a bridge on NH-6-and is conditional on maintaining books, securing statutory audits, and furnishing audit reports; failure on these grounds or cessation of infrastructure activity permits withdrawal of approval.

Tax exemption recognition for a charitable trust conditioned on exclusive application of income and permitted investment modes.
Notification recognizes Yug Nirman Trust as qualifying under the Income Tax provision for the specified assessment years, conditional on applying or accumulating income exclusively for its objects, restricting investments and deposits to permitted modes with exceptions for voluntary contributions held in kind, and excluding business profits unless the business is incidental to the objectives and accounted for in separate books.

Depository participant eligibility expanded to include registered registrars and share transfer agents, with conflict-of-interest restrictions.
Amendments permit a registrar to an issue or share transfer agent to act as a depository participant if it meets a prescribed minimum net worth and holds Board registration, but forbids acting as a depository participant for securities of companies for which it acts as registrar or share transfer agent; it also imposes a minimum net worth for stock brokers and caps on aggregate dematerialised portfolios relative to net worth.

Income-tax exemption under section 10(23G) approved for specified infrastructure projects, subject to compliance and audit conditions.
Approval is granted to specified infrastructure projects for income tax exemption under section 10(23G), read with rule 2E, subject to compliance with those provisions. Each approved enterprise must maintain books of account, obtain the audit required by sub rule (7) of rule 2E, and furnish the audit report; the Central Government may withdraw approval if the enterprise ceases to carry on the infrastructure facility or fails to maintain audited accounts or to furnish the audit report.

Anti-dumping duty withdrawal due to petitioner-exporter relatedness, leading to disqualification of domestic industry standing.
Withdrawal of the provisional anti-dumping duty was ordered because the petitioner was related to the exporter and thus did not qualify as the domestic industry under clause (b) of rule (2) of the anti-dumping Rules; accordingly, the Central Government, exercising powers under section 9A of the Customs Tariff Act read with sub-rule (4) of rule 18, rescinded the provisional duty notification on industrial sewing machine needles from the specified countries.

Tax exemption approval for infrastructure projects under section 10(23G) subject to compliance and possible withdrawal.
Approval under section 10(23G) read with rule 2E is granted to specified infrastructure projects for assessment years 1999-2000 to 2001-2002, conditional on compliance with the statutory provisions including maintenance of books, audit under sub rule (7) of rule 2E and furnishing the required audit report; the Central Government may withdraw approval if an enterprise ceases the infrastructure facility or fails the accounting and audit obligations.

Renewal of recognition under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act restores Bhubaneswar Stock Exchange's authority to transact in securities.
SEBI grants renewal of recognition to Bhubaneswar Stock Exchange under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, exercising statutory powers to authorise the Exchange to deal in contracts in securities after determining that renewal is in the interest of trade and the public, thereby restoring the Exchange's authority to operate in the securities market for the term specified in the notification.

Duty recovery and interest on noncompliant duty free imports where procurement or export conditions are unmet.
Amendments treat duty free goods as also procured from Public or Private Warehouses licensed under sections 57/58, substitute conditions to require execution of bonds and certificates, and impose duty and interest from importation or procurement where goods (capital, non capital, produced/unused, or raw materials/consumables) fail to be installed, used, exported or meet Net Foreign Exchange Earning and Export Performance targets within prescribed periods, while permitting administrative extensions and movement of goods for testing, repair or jobwork under bond.

Tax exemption under clause 23C(v) granted to a religious trust, subject to income application and investment conditions.
Central Government notifies tax exemption under clause (23C)(v) for "Shri Jain Swetamber Nakoda Parswanath Tirth, Mewanagar (Rajasthan)" for the specified assessment years, subject to conditions: (i) income must be applied or accumulated wholly and exclusively to the institution's objects; (ii) funds (other than voluntary contributions retained as jewellery, furniture, etc.) must be invested only in forms permitted for application-period funds; and (iii) exemption excludes business income unless incidental to objects and maintained in separate books.

Import licensing agencies recognised for silk grade certification, clarifying acceptable testing bodies and certification validity.
Amendment to Chapter 50 Import Licensing Notes adds a clause listing recognised agencies authorised to issue certificates for the grade of silk, naming specific Japanese, Chinese, Italian and European inspection and testing organisations and the Central Silk Board, Bangalore, whose certificates satisfy the licensing note requirement for silk imports.

Foreign Trade Policy amendment expands export house eligibility and revises job-worker, electronic hardware and duty-free licence provisions.
The Export and Import Policy amendments add hotels and travel/tour operators to eligible Export House and Service Export House categories after organic chemicals in paragraph 6.2; consolidate references in paragraph 9.9, insert "electronic hardware" after "toys", and delete paragraphs 9.9(d) and (f). Paragraph 9.21 is revised to bar exports from job worker premises through third parties and to remove the phrase permitting supply against duty free licence; Appendix 1 replaces "no minimum stipulation for electronics hardware" with "positive NFEP".

Duty-free procurement conditions tightened: bonds and export performance obligations now trigger duty recovery and interest if unmet.
Amendments to multiple Central Excise notifications require units procuring goods duty free to execute bonds and bind themselves to fulfil export obligations; failure to use capital or non-capital goods, or to meet specified export performance metrics, authorises recovery of duty with interest. Assistant Commissioners retain discretion to accept proof of use, grant extensions, and approve bonds, while Commissioners may extend performance periods. The revisions also permit duty-free outward processing or removal under bond for jobwork subject to return or duty payment on wastes, and modify annexures and item descriptions to regulate spares, consumables and certain processed goods.

Income-tax Rules amendment updates Form 2B acknowledgement and requires prior-year income and loss details for block periods.
Amendment under section 295 revises Appendix II to the Income-tax Rules, 1962 by omitting the figures "19" and "199" in the acknowledgement and FORM No. 2B, and replaces item 12 with a requirement to provide chronological details of total income and losses of previous years within the block period, including returned/assessed status and whether undisclosed income is included for each year.

Tax exemption under section 10(23C)(v): Arpana Trust notified subject to income application, investment limits and business exclusion.
Notification recognises Arpana Trust, Haryana under section 10(23C)(v) for assessment years 1997 98 to 1999 2000, conditional on applying income wholly and exclusively to its objects, restricting investments to statutory permitted forms (excluding certain retained voluntary contributions), and excluding business income unless the business is incidental and maintained in separate books of account.