Project imports amendment expands eligible projects to include digital cinema, monorail, mechanized grain handling and cold storage.
Amendment to the Project Imports Regulations, 1986 modifies Sr. No. 3E to cover Digital Cinema development projects and Digital head end project, and inserts new eligible entries for monorail projects for urban public transport (sponsored by the concerned state government), mechanized food grain handling and pallet racking systems in mandis and warehouses for food grains and sugar (sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture), and cold storage/cold room and industrial preservation, storage or processing projects for agricultural and allied produce (sponsored by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries).

Excise duty exemption for solar project machinery requires ministry recommendation and CEO undertaking to restrict use or pay duty.
Exempts from excise duty all machinery, components and auxiliary equipment required for initial setting up of a solar power generation or solar energy production project or facility, subject to a recommendation by an officer not below Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy specifying quantity, description and specification and a CEO undertaking to the relevant Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise that the goods will be used only in the project; non compliance triggers liability to pay the duty that would otherwise have been leviable.

Exclusion of government taxes on air passengers removed from service tax valuation if separately shown on the ticket or invoice.
Rule 6(2) of the Service Tax (Determination of Value) Rules, 2006 is amended by inserting clause (v) to exclude from service tax valuation the taxes levied by any Government on a passenger travelling by air, provided those taxes are shown separately on the ticket or invoice issued to the passenger.

Service tax extension to continental shelf and EEZ covers services for construction and supply related to oil and gas installations.
The Central Government extends Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994 to the whole continental shelf and exclusive economic zone of India and to installations, structures and vessels within them, covering any service for construction of installations, structures and vessels used for prospecting, extraction or production of mineral oil and natural gas and the supply of such items, and any service provided by or to such installations, structures and vessels including supply of goods connected with those activities.

Effective rate of duty amended for a listed excise entry, substituting the previously recorded tariff table rate.
The Central Government, under section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, amends Notification No. 49/2006-Central Excise by substituting in the Table the entry in column (4) against S No. 3 with "10%", thereby revising the recorded effective rate of duty for that entry.

Effective rate of duty revised to a uniform rate for specified tariff entries; certain item omitted and sunglasses clarified.
The amendment modifies Notification No.10/2006-Central Excise by substituting a uniform duty rate entry for several listed serial entries in the notification's table, omitting one serial entry and its related entries, deleting an entire list of entries, and substituting the description of another serial entry with "Sunglasses or goggles, for correcting vision." These changes are effected under the Central Excise Act as further amendments to the principal notification.

Exemption for online information and database access services by eligible Indian news agencies, subject to specified eligibility and income-use conditions.
Exempts taxable services relating to on-line information and database access or retrieval services and business auxiliary services provided by an Indian news agency from service tax, conditioned on the agency being notified as set up in India solely for collection and distribution of news, being specified under the Income Tax Act provision referenced, and applying or accumulating income for collection and distribution of news without distributing income to members.

Service tax exemption for installation and commissioning of agricultural and cold storage equipment, later rescinded.
Central Government notification exempts from service tax the taxable service in sub-clause (zzd) of clause (105) of section 65 of the Finance Act for: erection, commissioning or installation of mechanised food grain handling systems; erection, commissioning or installation of equipment for setting up or substantial expansion of cold storage; and installation and commissioning of machinery or equipment for initial setting up or substantial expansion of units for processing agricultural, apiary, horticultural, dairy, poultry, aquatic and marine products and meat, with the notification taking effect on gazette publication and later rescinded.

Central excise duty rates and exemptions revised, reclassifying goods and adding conditional exemption for mega power project supplies.
Revises Notification No. 6/2006 by altering proviso applicability dates and substituting multiple Table entries to change descriptions and duty rates for specified goods, including electrically operated vehicles and their components, computer and water filter components, LED fixtures, quilted textile products and others; inserts new serials with duty treatments; omits certain entries; and adds Condition 28 in the Annexure creating a conditional exemption for goods supplied to tariff bid-backed mega power projects contingent on customs duty exemption, ministerial certification and manufacturer undertakings, plus additions to List 6 for specified polyester resins and gel coat materials.

Central excise duty rates revised for specified tariff entries, altering rates and inserting new classifications for certain goods.
Amendment revises the tariff Table of Notification No. 5/2006 by substituting column (4) rates for multiple serial numbers-largely to 10%, assigning 4% to S. No. 3-omitting S. Nos. 13 and 20, inserting S. No. 5C to levy 4% on umbrella parts and panels, and inserting S. No. 21A to classify specified gold bars manufactured from ore or concentrate with a prescribed duty entry; enacted under section 5A(1) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 by notification dated February 27, 2010.

Service tax exemption for transmission of electricity: taxable transmission services were exempted, later rescinded by subsequent notification.
The Central Government exempted the taxable service provided for transmission of electricity from the whole of service tax leviable under the Finance Act by statutory notification exercising delegated powers in the public interest; that exemption was subsequently rescinded by a later notification.

Packing machine-based duty: monthly excise assessed by number of operating packing machines and declared retail price.
Rules fix production capacity and monthly excise liability for notified chewing and unmanufactured tobacco by reference to the number of packing machines; a statutory table specifies pouches deemed produced per operating packing machine per month by retail sale price and lime tube content. Manufacturers must file Form 1 declarations of machines, planned operations and retail price denominations for verification and approval; monthly duty is computed by applying the notified rate to the number of operating packing machines, paid by the fifth day with reporting in Form 2, and changes in machines or production require supervised modification, sealing, or fresh declarations.

Production capacity based duty applies to branded unmanufactured tobacco and packing machine packed chewing tobacco, triggering excise levy.
The notification designates unmanufactured tobacco bearing a brand name under tariff heading 2401 and chewing tobacco under tariff item 2403 99 10, when manufactured with the aid of a packing machine and packed in pouches, as notified goods subject to production capacity based excise duty under the Central Excise Act; it came into force on March eighth, two thousand ten. The notification defines "packing machine" to include all form fill seal and pouch making machines and defines "brand name" to cover registered or unregistered names or marks indicating a trade connection. It also notes subsequent rescission by a later notification.

Service tax exemption for seed testing and certification services, covering technical testing, analysis, inspection and certification.
Exempts from service tax the taxable services provided by Central or State Seed Testing Laboratories and Seed Certification Agencies notified under the Seeds Act, 1966, where such services consist of technical testing and analysis or technical inspection and certification of seeds; the exemption is exercised under the Finance Act and takes effect on publication in the Gazette of India.

Central excise rate changes replace specified duties with new specific and percentage rates and add targeted exemptions.
Amendment substitutes entries in the tariff table of Notification No. 4/2006-Central Excise to revise effective duties by replacing existing specific and ad valorem rates with newly prescribed specific rates per tonne or per litre and with revised percentage duties for multiple serial numbers, and inserts new exempt or nil-rate items for identified goods.

Tariff amendments: revised excise duty rates for specified starches, a supari exemption, and substituted entries prescribing 10% duties.
Amendment revises tariff entries under Notification No. 3/2006 by prescribing a 4% effective rate of duty for maize, potato and tapioca starch; inserting a Nil rate exemption for betel nut product "supari"; and substituting specified serial entries to prescribe a 10% effective duty rate for other listed goods.

Service tax abatement for rail transport: notification entry substituted and a future commencement date fixed under executive power.
Amendment substitutes the entry at S.No.11, column (3) of Notification No.1/2006-Service Tax to read Transport of goods by rail, effectuating the notified description relevant to the abatement treatment; the amendment is made under the Finance Act and is stated to come into force on the first day of July, 2012.

Central Excise amendment revises MRP-related column entries and reclassifies vehicle parts under Chapter 87 with a new entry.
Amendment to the Central Excise notification under section 4A substitutes column (4) entries against S.No.21 and S.No.27 with "55", and replaces S.No.108 to prescribe "Parts, components and assemblies of vehicles (including chassis fitted with engines) falling under Chapter 87 excluding vehicles falling under headings 8712, 8713, 8715 and 8716" with the corresponding column (4) entry "30".

Pro rata duty and capacity rules now fix monthly and annual duty obligations from a new manufacturer's start date.
Amendments modify the Pan Masala Packing Machines rules to require pro rata calculation of annual capacity and monthly duty for new manufacturers from commencement, make monthly duty payable where duty remains unpaid based on the higher of last declared or observed packing machines, restrict manufacturing and removals during specified suspension periods (with limited removal allowance), expand "used for manufacture" to "used in or in relation to manufacture," and revise the reference date for unregistered units to the first day of April of the relevant financial year.

Service tax exemption for rail transport of specified goods shields listed commodities from service tax under the Finance Act.
Exempts from service tax the taxable service of transporting specified goods by rail, listing categories such as defence equipment, railway materials, postal mail bags, disaster relief materials, passengers' luggage and household effects, parcels and numerous low rate commodities and perishables, and certain petroleum products and kerosene for public distribution; the exemption is made under section 93(1) of the Finance Act and is stated to come into force on the first day of July, 2012.