Unit based employee benefit scheme framework allows InvIT managers to grant units via employee trusts, with governance and disclosure controls.
The amendment permits investment managers to implement unit based employee benefit schemes via separate employee benefit trusts, defining eligible acquisitions (in lieu of management fees, gifts, transfers, or secondary acquisition) and imposing limits on secondary acquisitions, mandatory unitholder approvals, trustee registration requirements, governance by the nomination and remuneration committee, non-voting status of trust-held units, prohibition on trust trading, vesting and lock-in rules, and comprehensive disclosure, accounting and reporting obligations.

Disclosure of taxpayer information: Central government specifies APC and Secretary, Agriculture & Co operation Telangana under Section 138 for disclosure.
The Central Government, under the Income tax disclosure provision, designates the Agriculture Production Commissioner and the Secretary to the Government, Agriculture & Co operation Department, Government of Telangana as the specified functionaries authorised to receive information respecting assessees for the purposes of the cited clause, enabling inter departmental information sharing within the statutory disclosure framework.

Definition of liquid asset clarified to include cash, overnight mutual funds, bank fixed deposits, government securities and repos.
Amendment replaces clause (i) in the Explanation to regulation 28B(1)(d) to define "liquid asset" as a low risk asset readily convertible to cash, including cash; units of overnight or liquid mutual fund schemes; fixed deposits of scheduled commercial banks; government securities; treasury bills; repo on government securities; and repo on corporate bonds. The amendment is effected under section 30 read with section 11 of the SEBI Act and commences on publication in the Official Gazette.

Due diligence by debenture trustee: mandatory certificates and stock exchange disclosure; issuers must fix record date for payments.
The amendment mandates a record date fixed fifteen days before payment or corporate action dates and replaces due diligence provisions to require debenture trustees to furnish specified due diligence certificates at the draft-offer stage and at filing of the listing application, with distinct formats for secured and unsecured debt. Stock exchanges must disclose offer documents, placement memoranda and the debenture trustee's certificates. Schedule changes permit listed issuers to use a web-link/QR for audited financials subject to certified comparative disclosures and require trustee confirmations on security, covenants, debenture trust deed execution and charge registration.

Window advertisement for financial results permitted via QR code linking to filings, subject to debenture trustee approval and disclosure.
The amendment permits listed entities to publish only a window advertisement in newspapers referring to a Quick Response Code and links to the listed entity's and stock exchange(s)' websites where financial results are accessible, subject to conditions: existing non-convertible securities require debenture trustee approval; for post-notification issuances, the entity must disclose the window advertisement in the offer document or obtain prior debenture trustee approval.

Common Adjudicating Authority appointed to finalize provisional assessment in SVB case concerning M/s Avlock International India Pvt Ltd.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, under specified provisions of the Customs Act, 1962, appoints an officer as Common Adjudicating Authority to exercise the powers and discharge the duties of the adjudicating officers named in the Table for adjudication and finalization of the listed show cause notices issued to M/s Avlock International India Pvt. Ltd., centralizing responsibility within the Centralized Refund Cell-II, ACC, Mumbai.

Import liberalisation for potatoes: imports from Bhutan permitted without licence until 30 June 2027 under amended policy.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade amends Schedule I (Import Policy) to permit import of fresh or chilled potatoes from Bhutan freely, without any import licence, until 30th June 2027, extending the previous licence-free permission to that date.

Export Inspection Certificate requirement: rice exports to EU and specified European countries now need certification; others exempt for six months.
Exports of rice (Basmati and Non Basmati) to EU Member States and specified European countries require a Certificate of Inspection issued by the competent export inspection authority; exports to other European countries are exempt from the Certificate of Inspection requirement for a temporary period of six months, amending the prior notification accordingly.

Permitted banking currencies expand to include Swedish, Norwegian and Danish krone, alongside the New Zealand dollar.
The International Financial Services Centres Authority (Banking) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024 amend the First Schedule to the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Banking) Regulations, 2020 by adding Swedish Krone, Norwegian Krone, New Zealand Dollar and Danish Krone to the listed currencies. The amendment took effect upon publication in the Official Gazette.

Aadhaar authentication requirement for GST registration: biometric and document verification at facilitation centres required for completeness.
Where an applicant (other than specified exempt persons) opts for Aadhaar authentication, the application's date of submission is the date of Aadhaar authentication or fifteen days from filing Part B of FORM GST REG-01, whichever is earlier; applicants identified by portal analysis must complete biometric Aadhaar authentication, photograph capture and original document verification at a Commissioner notified Facilitation Centre, and the application is complete only after those steps are finished.

Investment limit exception allows equity ETFs and index funds exemption subject to Board-specified conditions under mutual fund amendments.
The amendment inserts an exception in Seventh Schedule, clause 9(c), to the 25 per cent of the net assets limitation permitting equity oriented exchange traded funds and index funds to exceed that concentration cap, provided such investments comply with conditions as may be specified by the Board. The Regulations take effect on publication in the Official Gazette.

Special Additional Excise Duty on petroleum crude increased; amended tariff entry substituted and takes effect in July.
Special Additional Excise Duty on production of petroleum crude is increased by substituting the tariff entry in the Table of notification No. 18/2022 Central Excise with a revised duty per tonne; the amendment is effected under powers conferred by the Central Excise Act and the Finance Act and is notified as No. 17/2024 Central Excise, coming into force on 2 July 2024.

Sea cargo manifest compliance extends the prescribed period and reduces the monetary amount specified in Form XI.
Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment compliance is amended by extending the period under regulation 15(2) to 31 August 2024. Form XI is revised to reduce the prescribed monetary amount from ten lakh rupees to five lakh rupees, including corresponding numerical and textual references.

Tariff value fixation for selected edible oils, metals and areca nut updated, altering customs valuation consequences.
Amendment to the principal customs notification substitutes revised Tables specifying tariff values in US dollars for listed imports - edible oils (including crude palm oil, RBD palm oil, palmolein, crude soybean oil), brass scrap (all grades), areca nuts, and specified forms of gold and silver - effected under section 14(2) of the Customs Act, 1962 and coming into force on 29th June, 2024.

Mule accounts defined; transactions through such accounts and diversion of assets treated as manipulative conduct under securities regulations.
The Regulations define mule account as trading, dematerialised or bank accounts in another person's name but effectively controlled by someone else, including where the controlling person provides consideration; they extend the prohibition to acts of diversion, misutilisation or siphoning of a listed company's assets or any scheme to manipulate its books or financial statements that would affect securities prices, and expressly deem transactions through mule accounts for manipulative, fraudulent or unfair trade practices to be included in sub-regulation (1).

Prevention and detection of market abuse: stock brokers must implement surveillance, KYC, reporting, escalation and whistleblower frameworks.
A new Chapter IVA mandates that stock brokers establish and maintain systems for surveillance of trading activities, robust know your client procedures, documented internal controls with defined roles, customized alert thresholds, and processes to detect mule accounts. Senior management and Designated Directors must implement and periodically review these systems. Detected suspicious activity must be reported to stock exchanges within prescribed timelines and summarized in half yearly reports; governance bodies must review compliance quarterly. A documented whistle blower policy with confidentiality and protection procedures is required.

Information sharing via Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit enables common portal consent-based data exchange under GST framework.
Notification designates Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit as the system with which the common GST portal may share information based on taxpayer consent under Section 158A, describing the platform as an enterprise grade open architecture IT platform that enables convergence of financial service providers and data service providers via a standard, protocol driven open API framework for access to diverse data sources.

Extension of limitation under Section 73 for tax recovery; deadlines extended for specified financial years.
The Government extends the time limit for issuance of orders for recovery of tax not paid or short paid and of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised, modifying earlier notifications; the revised deadlines for issuance of such recovery orders are the end of April 2024 for one financial year and the end of August 2024 for the other, under the statutory power to extend limitation periods.

Customs exemption extension for defence equipment imports extended by substituting the expiry year, prolonging exemption validity.
The Central Government, invoking powers under the Customs Act and the Customs Tariff Act in public interest, amends Notification No. 19/2019 Customs by substituting the expiry year in paragraph 2 from 2024 to 2029, thereby extending the validity of the miscellaneous exemption for imports of the specified defence equipment for five additional years.

Provisional anti-dumping duty imposed on telescopic channel drawer sliders from China PR; effective six months, payable in Indian currency.
A provisional anti-dumping duty is imposed on Telescopic Channel Drawer Slider from China PR (including where China PR is origin or export country) following preliminary findings of dumping and material injury to domestic industry. The duty is set per metric ton in US dollars but payable in Indian currency, with the rate of exchange determined by the Government of India on the bill of entry date. The provisional measure is effective for six months from publication unless earlier revoked, amended or superseded, and customs classification is indicative with final determination guided by the PUC description.