Packing machine duty rates revised for tobacco pouches, linking applicable rates to machine speed and retail price bands.
Revises Notification No.16/2010 to link applicable duty to the maximum packing speed at which machines can be operated for packing specified pouches and to retail sale price bands, substituting Table-2 with a new schedule prescribing the rate of duty per packing machine per month across speed and product columns and providing a linear formula for prices above the top band, illustrated by a sample calculation.

Amendment to Central Excise exemptions narrows eligible goods to those used in computer manufacture and revises the schedule entry.
Amendment removes Sl. No. 133 from the exemption Table, restricts Sl. No. 255 to goods "for use in manufacture of computer falling under the heading 8471," and substitutes the entry in column(5) for Sl. No. 255, effectuating targeted modifications to Notification No. 12/2012 Central Excise under powers conferred by sub section (1) of section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Excise exemption withdrawal for defence supplies by ordinance factories and defence PSUs, amendments effective from June.
The Government amends Notifications No. 62/1995 and No. 63/1995 by directing omission of specified table entries, thereby withdrawing the excise and customs duty exemptions applicable to goods manufactured for and supplied to the Ministry of Defence by the Ordinance Factory Board and Defence PSUs; the amendment takes effect from the stated effective date.

Capacity determination for tobacco packing machines revised; monthly deemed production per machine updated and pro rata annual capacity applied.
The amendment revises the method for deeming monthly production per chewing tobacco or unmanufactured tobacco packing machine by linking retail sale price bands and machine speed categories to specific deemed production entries in a substituted Table-2, and inserts a proviso requiring the annual capacity for 30 April 2015 to be calculated pro rata based on April's total days.

Service tax exemption extended to specified Pradhan Mantri schemes and APY contribution collection under statutory amendment.
Amendment inserts into the principal notification specified exemptions: Entry 26 adds Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna; Entry 26A adds Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana; and a new Entry 26B exempts services by way of collection of contribution under Atal Pension Yojana (APY). These changes are made under the power conferred by section 93(1) of the Finance Act, 1994.

Cenvat credit of education cesses allowed to be used for excise duty on inputs, capital goods and input services.
Permits utilization of Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Education Cess credit for payment of excise duty under the First Schedule to the Excise Tariff Act where such cesses are paid on inputs, capital goods received in the factory of manufacture of the final product (including a provision for balance credit on capital goods received in the prior financial year) and on input services received by the manufacturer of the final product, subject to the commencement provisions set out in the amendment to rule 3(7)(b) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004.

De-notification of SEZ land reduces notified area after regulatory approvals and state no-objection, altering resultant zone boundary.
The Central Government, having received the developer's proposal, the State Government's no-objection and the Development Commissioner's recommendation, de-notified 1.21.30 hectares of the sector specific SEZ for Engineering at Alwa and Pipalia, Gujarat, thereby reducing the notified area and setting the resultant SEZ area at 51.54.80 hectares; the notification lists the survey numbers and individual plot areas removed from the SEZ.

Applicability of Companies Act provision to limited liability partnerships extends company-law compliance to LLPs by central notification.
The Central Government, invoking powers under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, directs that Section 458 of the Companies Act, 2013-except the proviso to subsection (1)-shall apply to limited liability partnerships from the date of publication in the Official Gazette, thereby extending the operative compliance mechanisms of that Companies Act provision to LLPs.

Applicability of section 458 to limited liability partnerships: government notification applies company-law provisions to LLPs upon publication.
The Central Government, exercising powers under subsection (1) of section 67 of the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, directed that the provisions of section 458 of the Companies Act, 2013, except the proviso to subsection (1), shall apply to limited liability partnerships from the date of publication of the notification in the Official Gazette.

Warehousing station designation enables establishment of an exclusive export oriented undertaking upon SEZ Development Commissioner approval.
Designation declares Sy. No. 251/2 in Aluva East Village as a warehousing station under Section 9 of the Customs Act for the limited purpose of facilitating an exclusive Export Oriented Undertaking, effected by Notification No. 1/2015 Cus. (N.T.) dated 29 4 2015 and contingent on approval by the Development Commissioner of the Cochin Special Economic Zone.

Import policy change: Industrial and technical grade urea now freely importable subject to Actual User condition.
Amendment modifies the ITC (HS) code 3102 10 00 entry so that generic urea remains under State Trading Enterprise, while Industrial Urea and Technical Grade Urea (TGU) are freely importable subject to an Actual User condition, effectuating a bifurcated import regime under the foreign trade policy.

Tax approval for scientific research: University recognized under section 35(1)(ii) with compliance and audit conditions.
Approval is granted to Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University as an institution qualifying under clause (ii) of sub-section (1) of section 35 read with rules 5C and 5E, from AY 2014-2015, for departments engaged exclusively in scientific research. The institution must ensure sums paid are used only for scientific research, carry out research through faculty or enrolled students, maintain separate books of account for research receipts and expenditures, obtain an audit by a defined accountant and furnish the auditor's report and a certified statement of donations and application of funds to the tax authority by the return due date.

Exporter declaration requirement now mandatory for exports through customs manual ports; specified forms and evidence required.
Regulation 3(1) is substituted to require every exporter through Customs manual ports (excluding Nepal and Bhutan) to furnish to the specified authority a declaration in a Schedule form supported by specified evidence, containing true and correct material particulars including the amount representing exports. The amendment deletes the word "SDF" from Regulation 6 and removes Form SDF from the Schedule, withdrawing the duplicate Form SDF previously appended to shipping bills at Customs Offices with EDI processing.

Anti-dumping duty extension on acetone maintained, prolonging applicability to imports from Japan and Thailand for one year.
The designated authority recommended continuation of anti-dumping duty on acetone (Tariff Item 2914 11 00) originating in or exported from Japan and Thailand, and the Central Government amended Notification No. 36/2011 Customs to provide that the notification shall remain in force up to and inclusive of the 8th day of April, 2016, unless earlier revoked, thereby extending the anti-dumping duty for a further one-year period.

Anti-dumping duty extension: continued protection for barium carbonate imports from China until 22 March 2016.
Pursuant to a review under section 9A of the Customs Tariff Act and rule 23, the Central Government amends the principal notification imposing anti dumping duty on barium carbonate originating in or exported from the People's Republic of China by inserting a paragraph that the notification shall remain in force up to and inclusive of the 22nd day of March, 2016, unless revoked earlier.

Declaration of assets and liabilities required under SEBI employee rules with specified initial, transitional and annual filing timelines.
Amendment substitutes regulation 66(1) to require every employee to make a declaration of assets and liabilities as per specified subsections of section 44 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013: an initial declaration within thirty days of joining, transitional disclosure for those in service at commencement of the Act, and an annual return of assets and liabilities to be filed by 31st July each year.

Special Court designation under securities laws assigns a specific judicial forum for statutory adjudication and enforcement.
The Central Government designates the 39th Sessions Court, City Civil Court, Greater Mumbai as a Special Court to exercise jurisdiction under the Securities and Exchange Board Act, the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act and the Depositories Act, by executive notification identifying the judicial forum authorized to hear enforcement and adjudicatory matters under those statutes.

Sugar export liberalisation: preferential EU and USA quotas moved to free regime subject to registration, APEDA oversight and certificates.
The notification shifts preferential-quota sugar exports to the EU and USA from an STE regime to a conditional Free regime, requiring prior registration with DGFT, issuance of Certificates of Origin by Additional DGFT Mumbai where applicable, furnishing detailed export data to DGFT and APEDA, operation of the US TRQ by APEDA per its guidelines, compliance with quantitative ceilings notified by DGFT, and APEDA certification plus prior online registration for organic sugar exports; specified pharmaceutical and speciality sugars remain exempt from registration.

Inclusion of services and technology in foreign trade rules expands licensing, refusal and seizure regimes accordingly.
Amendments extend the rules to include services and technology with goods for import/export regulatory purposes, revise definitions to cover importer/exporter and licensing authority, and replace references to "licence" with "licence, certificate, scrip or any instrument bestowing financial or fiscal benefits." They broaden grounds for refusal, introduce recovery and adjustment mechanisms for erroneous benefits, expand powers to search, seize and inspect including electronic records and conveyances, and update confiscation and utilisation provisions to cover goods connected with services or technology while preserving procedural safeguards for seizure and return.

Name substitution in customs exemption: M/s. Indiabulls Power Ltd. replaced by RattanIndia Power Limited in List 32A.
The Central Government, invoking powers under the Customs Act in the public interest, amends Notification No.12/2012 Customs by substituting the entry "M/s. Indiabulls Power Ltd." with "RattanIndia Power Limited" in List 32A, item No. 82, thereby changing the named beneficiary of that miscellaneous exemption; the amendment is published by the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) with references to the principal notification and its latest amendment.