Scientific research approval: institute recognised for tax-deduction eligibility subject to recordkeeping, audit and reporting compliance.
M.P. Birla Institute of Fundamental Research, Kolkata is approved as an approved organisation for tax treatment of scientific research expenditure from assessment year 2009-2010 as an other institution partly engaged in research, subject to utilisation of sums for social sciences/statistical research, research carried out by faculty or enrolled students, maintenance and audit of separate books of accounts, and furnishing the audit report and a certified statement of donations and amounts applied for research to the tax authorities by the due date.

Appointment of Enforcement Officer as Assistant Director under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act designates PMLA enforcement authority.
The Central Government appoints the Enforcement Officer in the Directorate of Enforcement (appointed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act) as Assistant Director for the purposes of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, thereby conferring on that officer the authority to perform functions under the PMLA framework.

Tariff correction: amendment to packing machines duty rule entry clarifying the specified monetary threshold value.
The corrigendum to the Chewing Tobacco and Unmanufactured Tobacco Packing Machines (Capacity Determination and Collection of Duty) Rules, 2010 substitutes 'From Re.1' with 'From Rs 1.01' in column (2) of the Table against Sl. No. 2 of Notification No. 18/2010 Central Excise (N.T.), dated 13 April 2010, as published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary.

Capacity based rate of duty corrected to adjust threshold and clarify 'RSP' as 'retail sale price'.
The corrigendum to notification No. 19/2010-Central Excise amends Table-1 by revising the entry against Sl. No. 2 in column (2) to change the stated threshold wording and replaces the abbreviation 'RSP' wherever it occurs with the full term 'retail sale price', clarifying the tariff table wording for unmanufactured tobacco bearing a brand name (chewing tobacco).

Specified territory designation enables statutory tax-treaty and territory-specific income-tax treatment following executive notification.
The notification uses the power in Explanation 2 to designate the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as a specified territory, thereby classifying that jurisdiction for purposes of the Income-tax Act and enabling application of the Act's treaty-related and territory-specific tax provisions.

Special Economic Zone notification: SEZ area notified, Approval Committee constituted, zone deemed Inland Container Depot.
Central Government notifies a multi product Special Economic Zone at specified villages in Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh, proposed by M/s. IFFCO Kisan SEZ Limited, relying on fulfilment of Section 3 conditions and earlier letter of approval. The notification identifies the SEZ area by a detailed table of survey and sub survey numbers and land categories. An Approval Committee is constituted under Section 14 with named ex officio members and a developer invitee. The SEZ is deemed an Inland Container Depot from 19 April 2010 under the Customs Act.

Anti-dumping duty on phenol imposed, tied to exporter/producer origin and payable in Indian currency until 18 October 2010.
Imposition of anti-dumping duty on phenol imported from Thailand and Japan is ordered following preliminary findings of dumping, material injury and causation; duties are specified by origin, export route, producer and exporter combinations in a table as per tariff subheadings, expressed per metric tonne in US dollar terms, and are effective until 18 October 2010 payable in Indian currency with exchange conversion governed by government notification and bill-of-entry date.

Antidumping duty on R 134a imports from China and Japan imposed, targeting specified producers and exporters and payable in local currency.
Provisional anti dumping duty is imposed on 1,1,1,2 Tetrafluoroethane (R 134a) under Customs Tariff sub heading 2903 39 19 for imports originating in or exported from the People's Republic of China and Japan, with specified per kilogram duty rates in US dollars for named producer exporter combinations and default rates for other combinations. Duties are effective until 18 October 2010, payable in Indian currency, and the applicable exchange rate is that notified under section 14 of the Customs Act, with the bill of entry date as the relevant date.

Customs exemption extension for specified defence and security imports via amendment to the governing notification.
Amendment substitutes the expiry wording in the Table to Notification No.39/96-Customs at S.No.14, Column (3), Explanation, replacing "the 31st day of December, 2009" with "the 1st day of January 2011", thereby extending the temporal validity of the customs exemption applicable to specified defence and security-related imports.

Tariff Values amended for specified imports; substituted table lists updated per-tonne values for oils, brass scrap and seeds.
Fixation of Tariff Values by substituting the Table in Notification No. 36/2001-Cus (N.T.), listing per-metric-tonne tariff values for specified imported commodities. The amendment retains existing tariff values for several edible oil entries and specifies values for brass scrap (all grades) and poppy seeds, effected by Notification No. 31/2010-CUSTOMS (N.T.).

Capacity based rate of duty clarified to cover chewing tobacco (other than filter khaini) and Jarda scented Tobacco.
Corrigendum amending a Central Excise notification: wherever the earlier text reads "Chewing tobacco (other than filter khaini)" it shall be read as "Chewing tobacco (other than filter khaini) and Jarda scented Tobacco", thereby including Jarda scented Tobacco within the descriptive entry subject to the capacity based rate of duty on unmanufactured tobacco bearing a brand name.

Corrigendum to chewing tobacco packing machine capacity figures updates prescribed table entries altering specified capacities.
Corrigendum amends specific table entries in the earlier Gazette notification altering two numeric capacity entries against the identified serial number in the Chewing Tobacco and Unmanufactured Tobacco Packing Machines (Capacity Determination and Collection of Duty) Rules, 2010, by directing that the originally published figures be read as the revised figures in the respective table columns.

Investment in securities listed on SME exchange: venture capital funds may subscribe to unsubscribed issues or engage in market making.
The amendment inserts Regulation 12A permitting a venture capital fund to enter into an agreement with a merchant banker to subscribe to the unsubscribed portion of an issue or to receive or deliver securities in the process of market making under the Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements, and provides that Regulation 12 shall not apply to acquisitions or sales pursuant to such subscription or market making.

SME platform eligibility: brokers with nationwide exchange membership may trade without separate registration, subject to regulatory conditions.
The amendment allows a stock broker holding registration via membership of a recognised exchange with nationwide trading terminals to trade on the SME platform of that exchange without a separate registration, subject to the conditions of regulation 6A; it also provides that a registered sub-broker affiliated to such an eligible stock broker need not obtain a fresh certificate under regulation 11(1), subject to regulation 12A, and defines SME platform as the exchange trading platform permitted to list securities under Chapter XA of the ICDR Regulations.

Market making exception: acquisitions by market makers or nominated investors exempt unless they effect change in control.
The amendment inserts sub-clause (vii) in regulation 3(1)(f), exempting acquisitions by a merchant banker or nominated investor made in the process of market making and subscription to the unsubscribed portion under Chapter XA of the Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements Regulations, 2009, from the substantial acquisition and takeover provisions, provided the acquisition does not, directly or indirectly, result in a change in control of the target company.

Market making and underwriting obligations expanded for merchant bankers; minimum underwriting share required and quarterly reporting mandated.
The amendments permit a registered merchant banker to undertake market making under Chapter XA of the Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements, require merchant bankers, alone or jointly, to underwrite a minimum portion of any issue made under Chapter XA, and mandate quarterly submission to the Board of complete particulars of securities acquisitions made pursuant to underwriting or market making obligations under Chapter XA.

SME securities issuance framework: mandatory underwriting, SME exchange listing, compulsory market making, and migration rules.
A new Chapter XA creates a dedicated SME issuance framework requiring that offers be one hundred percent underwritten, merchant bankers submit prescribed due diligence and undertakings, filings with the Board be limited to final offer documents (with no Board observations), compulsory market making is mandated for a minimum period on SME exchange, listing must be on the SME exchange, and migration between SME exchange and Main Board is allowed subject to shareholder special resolutions and eligibility criteria.

Market making and subscribing to unsubscribed portions exempted from specified FII restrictions when under merchant banker agreements.
The amendment inserts provisos to regulation 15(3) clauses (a) and (c) excluding from those clauses any transaction by a Foreign Institutional Investor pursuant to an agreement with the merchant banker for market making or for subscribing to the unsubscribed portion of an issue, provided such activities are conducted in accordance with Chapter XA of the Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements Regulations, 2009.

Capacity based rate of duty adjusted for chewing tobacco and jarda, altering tariff classification and packing-machine duty schedule.
Amendment substitutes the opening paragraph to include chewing tobacco and Jarda scented tobacco, adds a cross reference to an additional duty column, replaces Table 1 with a multi column schedule that prescribes rate of duty per packing machine per month according to retail sale price bands and product form, provides algebraic formulas for higher price points, supplies illustrative calculations using 'P' as retail sale price, and inserts an Explanation defining filter khaini as chewing tobacco pre packed in filter sachets prior to pouching, with a proviso adjusting the S.No.12 threshold for filter khaini.

Duty determination for packing machines updated to include jarda scented tobacco and impose highest-price duty liability for a month.
Amends the 2010 Rules to include jarda scented tobacco in rules 2(c) and 3, substitutes the production-capacity table in rule 5 to specify monthly pouch capacities per packing machine across retail price bands for chewing tobacco (including Filter Khaini), unmanufactured tobacco and jarda scented tobacco, and adjusts column references. Inserts provisos in rule 6(5) and rule 13(1) requiring uninstalling and sealing of packing machines that cannot be removed, and amends rule 8 to require payment of duty for the month at the highest retail sale price produced.