Exemption for cotton goods clarified: branded high priced cotton products excluded from central excise relief.
Substitutes the entry for serial number 7 in Notification No.7/2012 to exempt all goods of cotton not containing any other textile material, while excluding goods bearing or sold under a brand name that meet the specified retail sale price (RSP) threshold. An explanation clarifies that such cotton goods include items made from pure cotton fabrics even if they incorporate non cotton sewing threads, cords, labels, elastic tapes, zip fasteners or similar items used for stitching, fastening, holding or adornment.

Rescission of notification under Central Excise Act withdraws prior notification's effect, subject to pre-existing actions preserved.
The Central Government, invoking its authority under the Central Excise Act, rescinded Notification No. 9/2012-Central Excise (N.T.), dated 17 March 2012, withdrawing that notification in the public interest while preserving a savings provision that leaves intact things done or omitted before the rescission.

Exemption for jewellery manufacturing expanded to include silver jewellery studded with specified gemstones, relieving certain factories from listed conditions.
Amendment inserts a new sub-clause providing that every manufacturing factory or premises engaged in the manufacture or production of articles of jewellery, other than articles of silver jewellery but inclusive of silver jewellery studded with diamond, ruby, emerald or sapphire and falling under the relevant tariff classification, shall be exempted from sub-clauses (i) and (ii) of clause (8) of the principal notification.

Exemption disapplication for expanded gold and silver producers: existing units that expand or install new plant lose area-based exemption.
The amendment inserts a uniform provision into the listed notifications that the exemption shall not apply to an industrial unit existing on 1st March, 2016 which undertakes substantial expansion or installs fresh plant, machinery or capital goods for production of gold or silver and commences commercial production from such expanded capacity or new plant on or after 1st March, 2016.

Exemption exclusion for refined gold and silver production limits exemptions for new or expanded units commencing after March 1, 2016.
Amendments to notifications 56/2002, 57/2002, 20/2007 and 01/2010 insert that the exemption shall not apply to (a) new industrial units producing refined gold or silver commencing commercial production on or after 1 March 2016, and (b) existing units as on 1 March 2016 that substantially expand or install fresh plant, machinery or capital goods for such production and commence commercial production from the expanded capacity or new assets on or after 1 March 2016.

Centralized registration for jewellery manufacturers allows single-site compliance subject to billing and recordkeeping requirements and premises reporting.
Where a manufacturer of specified articles of jewellery operates a centralised billing or accounting system for goods produced at multiple factories or premises, the manufacturer may opt to register only the one factory, premises or office from which such centralised billing or accounting is done and where accounts and records of receipts of raw materials and finished excisable goods, including goods returned from job workers, are kept; the manufacturer must give details of all premises (other than job workers') from which such specified goods are removed, and may alternatively take separate registrations for premises where accounts are maintained.

Clean Energy Cess territorial extension: inclusion of the State of Nagaland alongside Meghalaya in levy coverage.
The Central Government amends Notification No.05/2010-Clean Energy Cess by inserting the words "and the State of Nagaland" immediately after "State of Meghalaya" in the notification's list of States, under powers conferred by the Finance Act and the Central Excise Act, via Notification No.2/2016-Clean Energy Cess dated 1 March 2016.

Infrastructure cess exemptions for specified motor vehicles permit nil or reduced levy subject to registration, refund and compliance conditions.
The notification exempts or reduces Infrastructure Cess on specified motor vehicle categories by prescribing Nil or reduced effective rates and attaching conditions under which manufacturers who pay cess at clearance may claim refund by taking credit in an Account Current and filing a verified claim with supporting proof of payment and registration certificates for vehicles subsequently registered as ambulances or taxis; officers must verify and determine refunds, and irregular or excess credits are recoverable as erroneously refunded excise duty.

Rescission of clean energy cess notification removes prior notification while preserving prior actions under statutory powers.
The Central Government, under sub section (7) of section 83 of the Finance Act, 2010 and section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, rescinds Notification No.1/2015 Clean Energy Cess dated 1 March 2015 as necessary in the public interest, while preserving effects of things done or omitted before the rescission and recording the administrative file reference and signatory.

Tariff value fixation for specified imports updates valuation basis affecting edible oils, metals, seeds and nuts.
The Central Board of Excise & Customs, under section 14(2) of the Customs Act, 1962, amends Notification No. 36/2001 Customs (N.T.) by substituting TABLE 1, TABLE 2 and TABLE 3 to fix tariff values for specified imports. New tariff values are prescribed in US dollars per metric tonne (or per unit where indicated) for edible oils (various palm and soybean oils), brass scrap (all grades), poppy seeds, areca nuts, and separate unit values for gold and silver where benefits under certain entries of Notification No. 12/2012 Customs are claimed.

Public issue allocation amended: specified portion of bonds to be publicly issued with a retail investor earmark.
The amendment requires seventy percent of each TABLE entity's aggregated bond issuance to be raised through public issue and mandates that forty percent of that public issue be reserved for retail investors, with the forty percent to be read as sixty percent for the entities listed at the TABLE positions corresponding to serial numbers 2(b) and 8. It further replaces the TABLE entry for serial number 2 to specify two bond tranches allocated to Indian Railway Finance Corporation Limited.

Extension of filing deadline: Form GE-II quarterly returns now required to be filed by the revised deadline.
Returns in Form GE-II for the first three quarters of 2015-16 are required to be filed by 7 March 2016; this direction modifies earlier notifications and is issued under the statutory power of the Commissioner of Value Added Tax, taking immediate effect.

Tax exemption for specified income: government grants and related interest exempt for notified society subject to compliance conditions.
Notification under section 10(46) designates the Madhya Pradesh State AIDS Control Society as exempt for specified income comprising (a) grants-in-aid from the Government of India and (b) interest on such grants, applicable for the period 01.06.2011 to 31.03.2013 and financial years 2013-14 to 2015-16, subject to conditions: no commercial activity, unchanged activities and income nature during the year, and filing returns as required by clause (g) of sub-section (4C) of section 139; grants must be received and applied per prevailing rules.

Anti-dumping duty amendment substitutes tariff classification entry 5402 with 5402 47, narrowing coverage of affected imports.
The Central Government, exercising powers under the Customs Tariff Act and relevant Customs Tariff Rules, amends the principal anti-dumping notification by substituting the tariff entry "5402" with "5402 47" in column (2) of the Table, thereby modifying the tariff classification of the articles subject to anti-dumping duty.

Tax exemption for competition regulator income conditioned on non commercial activity and prescribed return filing.
Notification exempts specified income of the Competition Commission-government grants, fees under the Competition Act and interest on those amounts-from tax under clause (46) of section 10, subject to conditions that the Commission not engage in commercial activity, maintain unchanged activities and income character, and file returns as prescribed; the exemption applies for the financial years specified in the instrument.

Notification of Atal Pension Yojana under section 80CCD confirms its recognition as a pension scheme for tax purposes.
Central Government notifies Atal Pension Yojana (APY) as a pension scheme for the purposes of section 80CCD of the Income tax Act, 1961 by exercising powers under sub section (1); the notification adopts the APY as published in the Gazette and comes into force from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.

Chairman reappointment: SEBI Chair re-appointed under SEBI Act, tenure extended until further orders or specified term.
Re-appoints Shri U. K. Sinha as Chairman, SEBI, effective 18 February 2016, until 1 March 2017 or until further orders, under the authority of Section 4 of the SEBI Act, 1992 and rule 3 of the SEBI (Terms & Conditions of Service of Chairman & Members) Rules, 1992, issued by the Central Government through the Ministry of Finance.

Corrigendum updates service tax notification to replace 'Principal Director General' with 'Principal Director General/ Director General'.
The corrigendum directs that the phrase "Principal Director General" in the cited service tax notification be read as "Principal Director General/ Director General", formally substituting the designation in the published notification and recording the administrative file reference.

Tax-free bond allocation updated: retail reservation for specified rural bank and additions to list of authorised issuers.
Amendments revise allocations and issuance mechanics for tax-free, secured, redeemable, non-convertible bonds under section 10(15)(iv)(h), inserting a proviso obliging NABARD to earmark sixty per cent of its public issue for retail individual investors and substituting and adding entries in the notification Table to adjust authorised issuers and allocated bond amounts.

Exchange rate determination fixes foreign-to-rupee rates for import and export purposes effective from specified date.
Determination fixes the rate of exchange for conversion between specified foreign currencies and Indian rupees for customs valuation of imported and export goods, effective from 19th February, 2016, superseding the earlier board notification dated 4th February, 2016. Schedule I provides per unit rupee equivalents with separate columns for imported and export goods; Schedule II provides rates per one hundred units where applicable. The notification prescribes the exchange rates to be applied in customs transactions until superseded.