Effective date amendment: Customs notifications' commencement deferred to the first day of April to standardise implementation.
The Central Government directs textual amendments to specified Customs (N.T.) notifications by substituting, in paragraph 2 of each listed notification, the previously stated commencement date of the first day of March, 2004 with the first day of April, 2004. The amendment is issued under statutory power as necessary in the public interest and applies to ten notifications published in the Gazette in July and August 2003, with prior amendment histories noted; the change is effected by direct substitution of the figures, letters and words in the identified paragraph.

Commencement date amendment postpones SEZ customs procedures' operative start, altering regulatory implementation timeline for affected notifications.
Amendment substitutes the commencement date in regulation 1(3) of the Special Economic Zones (Customs Procedures) Regulations, 2003, replacing the earlier figures, letters and words specifying the operative start date with a later date; the amendment is made under the Customs Act and comes into force on publication in the Official Gazette.

Commencement date amendment delays SEZ Rules effective date under Customs Act authority, substituting the previously notified commencement date.
The Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Rules, 2004 substitute the previously stated commencement date in rule 1(2) of the Special Economic Zones Rules, 2003 with a new specified date; the rules are titled accordingly and come into force upon publication in the Official Gazette, made under section 156(1) read with Chapter XA of the Customs Act, 1962, by Notification No. 26/2004-Customs (N.T.).

Customs notification amendment shifts the effective date from March to April under the governing finance power.
The Central Government amended the principal customs notification by substituting the date "1st day of March, 2004" with "1st day of April, 2004". The amendment was issued under section 126 of the Finance Act, 2002 and is confined to the effective date stated in the earlier notification dated 22 July 2003.

Effective Date Postponement: SEZ central excise notifications' commencement deferred from March to April under amendment.
Notification No. 17/2004-CE directs that in paragraph 2 of Notification No. 58/2003-Central Excise and Notification No. 59/2003-Central Excise the figures, letters and words stating the earlier commencement date shall be substituted with a later commencement date, thereby postponing the operative date specified in those notifications under the powers conferred by the Central Excise Act and the Additional Duties of Excise Act.

Excise tariff amendment adds a concessional excise rate for goods under Chapter 72, altering the exemptions table.
Amendment inserts a new entry into the miscellaneous exemptions table of the principal central excise notification, authorising a specific concessional excise rate for goods under Chapter 72 by adding a fresh serial entry after existing entries and referencing prior amendments.

Amendment to Central Excise notification: effective date extended from March to April, updating implementation timeline.
Under powers of section 133 of the Finance Act, 2002, Notification No. 58/2003-CENTRAL EXCISE (N.T.), dated 22nd July 2003 is amended to substitute '1st day of March, 2004' with '1st day of April, 2004', thereby postponing the operative commencement date specified in the principal notification.

Customs tariff amendments: Part A headings and import duty rates updated, changes take effect in March.
Government amends Notification No. 105/99 Customs by substituting and inserting entries in the Table, Part A: specific tariff headings (HS codes) are replaced or added against certain serial numbers and corresponding ad valorem import duty rates are prescribed for those entries. The notification is promulgated under statutory powers and specifies that the amendments come into force in March.

Customs exemption permits duty-free import for Divya Drishti programme subject to designated importer and dual certification.
This amendment adds an exemption allowing duty-free import of machinery, equipment, instruments, components, spares, tooling, software, raw materials and consumables for the DIVYA DRISHTI Programme, when imported by designated works centres, government agencies or public sector undertakings and accompanied at import by a goods list certified by the Director, Defence Electronics Research Laboratory or CMD of Electronics Corporation of India Limited and by an Under Secretary in the Ministry of Defence confirming programme authorization.

Exemption for defence programme supplies: goods supplied to the programme are excise exempt if a prior defence certificate is produced.
The notification inserts a conditional exemption for all goods supplied to Programme DIVYA DRISHTI, applicable only when, before clearance, a certificate from the designated defence certifying authority is produced to the proper officer confirming the goods are intended for that Programme, thereby amending Notification No. 64/95-Central Excise.

Debonding of capital goods allowed on payment of duty on depreciated value at the prevailing duty rate.
The notification authorises debonding as an alternative to transfer within India under the Export and Import Policy and revises the proviso so that clearance or debonding of capital goods may be allowed on payment of duty on their depreciated value at the rate in force on the date of payment; it also extends references to clearance to include debonding and permits duty-free debonding of used packing materials unsuitable for repeated use.

Customs tariff amendment revises a table entry to prescribe duty treatment for specified tariff headings and exclude seconds and defectives.
Amendment substitutes Table entry 190B in Notification No. 21/2002-Customs to list a contiguous series of tariff headings, describe the goods as all goods other than seconds and defectives, and specify the corresponding duty column entries for that row.

Debonding of capital goods permitted with excise charged on depreciated value; depreciation treatment specified for computers and other goods.
Paragraph 8 of Notification No.22/2003-Central Excise is amended to permit debonding of goods in addition to clearance under the Export and Import Policy, and to allow clearance or debonding of capital goods on payment of excise duty assessed on their depreciated value at the rate in force on the date of payment, with specified annual depreciation treatment for computer items and for other capital goods.

Amendment to Central Excise notification: substitution of the S.No.14 entries with Mysore, altering specified table entries.
Amendment replaces the entry against S.No.14 in Table I and Table IA of Notification No.14/2002-Central Excise (N.T.) with the entry "Mysore", made under sub-rule (2) of rule 3 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002, and declared effective from the stated effective date.

Tariff values amended for palm oils, soybean oil and brass scrap; substituted table sets updated unit rates.
The Board amends the principal customs non-tariff notification by substituting a Table that prescribes tariff values in US dollars per metric tonne for specified tariff headings and goods, namely crude palm oil, RBD palm oil, other palm oils, crude palmolein, RBD palmolein, other palmolein, crude soybean oil and brass scrap (all grades), thereby fixing unit tariff values for import valuation purposes under the customs authority.

Income-tax exemption under clause (23C)(iv) notified for a charitable institution, subject to conditions on application and investment.
Notification under section 10 clause (23C)(iv) designates Ramakrishna Abhedananda Mission, Kolkata as eligible for income-tax exemption for specified assessment years, conditioned on applying income wholly to its objects; restricting investments to modes permitted by section 11(5) except certain tangible voluntary contributions; excluding business profits unless incidental and separately accounted; regular filing of income-tax returns; and transfer of surplus and assets on dissolution to a charitable organisation with similar objectives.

Research institution approval under section 35 enables tax-exemption subject to accounting, reporting, and audited-account compliance.
Approval is granted to M/s ITC Sangeet Research Academy as an institution for research-related tax exemption, conditional on maintaining separate books of account for research, filing an annual return of scientific research activities to the Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research by the annual deadline, and submitting audited annual accounts and audited income-and-expenditure accounts for the research activities to the Director General of Income Tax (Exemptions), the Secretary, DSIR, and the Commissioner/Director of Income Tax (Exemptions) having jurisdiction, in addition to filing the income-tax return with the designated assessing officer.

Exemption under section 35AC: specified institutions and projects approved for deduction eligibility with capped project costs.
Approval is granted for named institutions and specified projects as eligible for deduction under section 35AC, with each project listed together with an estimated cost and a maximum deductible portion; applicability is time limited by financial years and some projects are subject to monitoring or reporting conditions, while certain sub-projects were excluded and an earlier cost figure for one entry was amended.

Customs duty reduction on steel items updates tariff entries and inserts new headings, altering applicable duties and exclusions.
Amendments to Notification No. 21/2002 Customs revise tariff entries for steel items: substituted lower duty rates at specified serial numbers; insertion of new sub entries 190A and 190B covering goods other than pig iron and goods under headings 7203-7217 with assigned customs duty; and substitution of S. No. 207's description to exclude goods under heading 7202, listed serial numbers including 190A/190B, and seconds and defectives under Chapter 72, effected under section 25(1) of the Customs Act, 1962.

Exchange rate determination for exported goods under the Customs Act sets specified currency conversion rates for export valuation.
The Board, under section 14(3)(a)(i) of the Customs Act, determines exchange rates for conversion between specified foreign currencies and Indian rupees for export goods valuation, superseding the prior notification; Schedule I prescribes per-unit rates for listed currencies and Schedule II prescribes the rupee equivalent for one hundred units of Japanese Yen, effective from the stated implementation date.