Private warehouse licensing criteria require eligibility, solvency, insurance and operational safeguards for storing dutiable imported goods.
Regulations create licensing requirements for private warehouses storing dutiable imported goods: applicants must meet eligibility criteria, furnish undertakings and a solvency certificate (except government undertakings), and may be refused where insolvency, conviction, unsound mind, pending proceedings, or unsuitable premises exist. Before grant, an all-risk insurance policy in favour of the President of India, undertakings to pay duties and indemnify customs, and appointment of an experienced warehouse keeper are required. Licences are non-transferable, valid until cancelled, and surrender is permitted subject to clearance of dues and absence of warehoused goods or pending proceedings.

Public warehouse licensing: eligibility, insurance and undertakings required before grant and subject to cancellation conditions.
Licensing framework requires applicants for a public warehouse licence to meet eligibility criteria including citizenship or lawful incorporation, specified undertakings and a solvency certificate except for certain government undertakings and notified ports; the authority may refuse licence for insolvency, convictions, penalties, unsoundness of mind, unsuitable premises or pending bankruptcy or criminal proceedings. Conditions precedent to grant include an all risk insurance in favour of the President of India, undertakings to pay duties and indemnify the customs authority, and appointment of an experienced warehouse keeper; licences are non transferable and may be surrendered and cancelled subject to clearance of dues and absence of goods or proceedings.

Special warehouse custody rules require licensed keepers, bond officer supervision, strict records and restricted transfers for compliance.
Regulations create a framework for licensed customs bonded warehouses requiring appointment of a digitally authorised warehouse keeper, physical security and a computerised accounting system; bond officers control locking, entry, receipt, transfer and removal of goods; transfers and removals require bond officer presence, prescribed forms and one-time locks on transport; licensees must maintain and preserve detailed records, file monthly returns, and are subject to penalties under the Act while the Board may exempt classes of goods.

Warehouse custody controls: verification, sealing and recordkeeping required before transfer or removal of bonded goods.
Licensees must appoint a qualified warehouse keeper with authorised digital signatures, provide security, examination facilities and a computerised accounting system, and follow strict procedures for receipt, transfer and removal of goods. Verification of a one-time-lock, prompt reporting of discrepancies to the bond officer, endorsements and retention of transport and customs documents, and limits on manipulation of goods are required. Detailed records must be maintained and preserved, monthly returns filed, non-compliance attracts penalties, and limited exemptions may be granted.

Warehoused goods removal: prescribed Form, one-time-lock transport, and duty liability for failure to produce arrival acknowledgement.
Regulations require filing the prescribed Form for transfer of warehoused goods between warehouses or to a customs station for export, recording import, warehousing, goods, dispatch and receipt particulars. Transport must ordinarily be under a one-time-lock affixed by the proper officer, licensee or bond officer, unless the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner permits otherwise. The owner must, within one month or an allowed extension, produce an acknowledgement from the receiving warehouse licensee, bond officer or export proper officer confirming arrival, failing which full duty with interest, fines and penalties under section 72 becomes payable.

Special warehouse goods: Precious metals and supply-destined goods must be warehoused for duty-free shops, ships, aircraft, and privileged persons.
Specifies goods to be deposited in a licensed special warehouse: gold, silver, other precious metals and articles thereof; and goods warehoused for supply to duty free shops, for use as stores on vessels or aircraft, and for supply to foreign privileged persons under the applicable customs privileges rules. An amendment removed semi-precious metals from the enumerated category.

CENVAT Credit Rules amendment updates statutory reference to Finance Act, aligning rule text with the enacted provision.
The CENVAT Credit (Sixth Amendment) Rules, 2016 substitute in rule 3, sub-rule (4), ninth proviso the words "sub-clause (1) of clause 159 of the Finance Bill, 2016" with the words "sub-section (1) of section 162 of the Finance Act, 2016", thereby aligning the proviso's statutory reference with the enacted provision; the amendment takes effect on publication in the Official Gazette and is confined to this textual substitution within the CENVAT Credit Rules.

Reference substitution in infrastructure cess notification: replaces bill-based citations with act-based citations and omits provisional collection wording.
The Government amends notification No. 1/2016-Infrastructure Cess to substitute clause-based references from the Finance Bill with corresponding sub-section references to the Finance Act, 2016, and to omit language invoking the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act; the amendment comprises three specific substitutions/omissions aligning the principal notification with the enacted Finance Act and removing provisional-collection wording.

Terminology change: Clean Energy Cess now construed as Clean Environment Cess across covered statutory instruments.
Directs substitution of the term Clean Energy Cess with Clean Environment Cess in all rules, notifications, instructions, decisions, and orders made or issued under the specified provisions of the Finance Act, 2010, construing existing references accordingly to effect a uniform change of nomenclature.

Tariff value fixation updated for specified imports, changing customs valuation and applicable unit tariff references.
The Central Board of Excise & Customs, under sub-section (2) of section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962, substitutes TABLE-1, TABLE-2 and TABLE-3 of the principal notification to prescribe revised tariff values in US dollars per metric tonne (and specified unit values for gold and silver) for listed imported goods including edible oils, brass scrap, poppy seeds, areca nuts and precious metals when concessional notification entries are availed.

Anti-dumping duty on DVD-R imports imposed to prevent recurrence of dumping and protect domestic industry for five years.
Definitive anti-dumping duty is imposed on DVD-R imports under tariff heading 8523 from Vietnam and Thailand for five years, based on the Designated Authority's finding of likely continuation and intensification of material injury if duties were removed. The notification prescribes duty rates per 1000 pieces in US Dollars for imports directly from the subject countries and for goods exported via third countries, and provides that duties are payable in Indian currency using the exchange rate notified under the Customs Act with the bill of entry date as the relevant date.

Wilful defaulter status expanded as a disqualifying criterion, applying to persons and their directors or promoters.
The amendment inserts a definition of "wilful defaulter" into regulation 2(1), covering persons categorized by banks, financial institutions or consortiums under RBI guidelines and including any person whose director, promoter or principal officer is so categorized. Schedule II is amended to add "the director, the promoter" after "principal officer" and to include absence of categorization as a wilful defaulter as an express criterion.

Wilful defaulter designation bars public issue of non-convertible redeemable preference shares and mandates enhanced disclosures.
The Regulations add a wilful defaulter definition and prohibit public issues of non-convertible redeemable preference shares where the issuer or its controllers/promoters/directors are restrained from market access, or where the issuer or any promoter or director is a wilful defaulter or has defaulted on interest or principal repayments for over six months. For private placement listings, specified disclosures about wilful defaulter status must be provided, prominently disclosed on the cover and presented as a separate identifiable chapter or section.

Wilful defaulter restrictions bar public debt issues and mandate prominent private placement disclosures for investor information.
The regulations add a wilful defaulter definition covering issuers whose directors or promoters are so categorized, and prohibit public issues of debt securities where the issuer, controller, promoter or director is restrained from markets or is a wilful defaulter or in default of interest or principal payments for over six months. For private placement listings, issuers must make specified disclosures about wilful default (declaring bank, year, outstanding amount, entity name, remediation steps and other investor relevant information), prominently disclose wilful default on the cover page, and present these disclosures in a separate, indexed chapter or section.

Wilful defaulter designation restricts public issues and mandates enhanced disclosures for issuers, promoters or directors.
The amendment defines "wilful defaulter" as per bank or financial institution categorisation and bars public equity issues by an issuer or any promoter or director who is a wilful defaulter; it also bars public issues of convertible debt if the issuer or related promoter/director is a wilful defaulter or if the issuer has defaulted on public debt interest or principal for over six months. Where a wilful defaulter status exists, issuers must make Part G Schedule VIII disclosures in offer documents and abridged letters of offer, show the status prominently on the cover page, and present disclosures in a separate indexed section. Rights-issue renunciation by promoters is limited to within the promoter group.

Wilful defaulter prohibition bars persons categorized as wilful defaulters from making open offer announcements under takeover rules.
The amendment defines "wilful defaulter" as a person categorized by banks or financial institutions under RBI guidelines, including persons whose director, promoter or partner is so categorized, and provides that no wilful defaulter shall make a public announcement of an open offer or enter into transactions attracting the obligation to make such an announcement, except that a wilful defaulter may make a competing offer under the applicable competing offer provision.

Statement on Impact of Audit Qualifications now replaces prescribed forms and requires declaration or statement with annual results.
Amendments require listed entities to file an annual audited financial results submission accompanied either by a Statement on Impact of Audit Qualifications for modified audit opinions or, for unmodified opinions, a declaration to that effect to the stock exchange(s). The new statement replaces Forms A and B, standardises format and submission across regulations, removes the Qualified Audit Report Review Committee, tasks recognised exchanges with reviewing the statement and audit report, and provides that management may explain qualifications and present estimates (or reasons if unquantifiable) for auditor review.

Special Economic Zone area addition expands notified SEZ for IT and ITES following Central Government notification.
Central Government notified an addition to an existing sector specific Special Economic Zone for Information Technology and ITES proposed by M/s. Larsen and Toubro Limited, exercising statutory power under the Special Economic Zones Act and the Special Economic Zones Rules to incorporate approved additional land parcels identified by survey numbers and thereby increase the SEZ's notified area.

VAT schedule amendments revise taxable classifications and add specific goods while altering the tobacco levy and exemptions.
Amendments to the Schedules of the Delhi Value Added Tax Act, 2004 revise taxable classifications in the Third Schedule by substituting and inserting entries for metals, narrowing electronic equipment to data processing machines, adding footwear, readymade garments excluding khadi, school bags, sweets and namkeens, E rickshaws and battery/hybrid vehicles, and marble; and amend the Fourth Schedule by substituting the tobacco products row with a specified levy and omitting another entry. The notification is effective the day after issuance.

Import policy change: Radio remote control apparatus now free for import subject to WPC licence requirement.
Import policy for radio remote control apparatus under Exim Code 85269200 is amended from Restricted to Free, permitting importation only against a licence issued by the WPC wing of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.