Investment scope widened: maturity proceeds must be reinvested in Central and State Government securities under amended rule.
Amendment to Rule 9 inserts authority to invest "or in any other instrument" alongside State Government Securities and omits the proviso to sub rule (1). It substitutes sub rule (10) to require that amounts received on maturity be reinvested in Central Government and State Government securities issued per sub rule (3), and that suitable accounting entries referred to in sub rules (5) and (6) be made by the designated accounting authority.

Premature withdrawal rules revised: altered interest computation and new deposit rate table effective from December onwards.
The amendment inserts Table-R, applicable to deposits made on or after 1 December 2011, specifying annual interest rates for one-, two-, three- and five-year deposits and revises rule 7's Notes to reference Table Q or Table R. Rule 8 is revised so that premature withdrawals after six months but before one year earn simple interest at the Post Office savings rate, while withdrawals after one year in multi-year accounts earn interest for completed years and months at a rate one percent less than the relevant tenure rate specified in the applicable Table under rule 7.

Interest provision change for monthly income accounts imposes deferred payment and excludes bonus for new accounts from the operative date.
Amendment adds a new clause to rule 8(1) specifying the annual interest applicable to deposits made on or after the operative date, and inserts provisos in rule 9(1) that defer payment by the paying post office until five years from account opening and exclude any bonus for accounts opened on or after the operative date.

Public Provident Fund contribution ceiling raised and late payment interest rate increased under amended Scheme provisions.
Amendment increases the maximum annual contribution ceiling under the Public Provident Fund Scheme by substituting the prior lower cap with a higher cap in the Scheme text and in Form A, and revises the Scheme's rate for delayed payments by replacing the previous single-percentage rate with a higher single-percentage rate, with a specified commencement date for these substitutions.

Recurring deposit rules amendment adds payable tables and revises post maturity and nominee payment provisions for new accounts.
Amendments to the Post Office Recurring Deposit Rules, 1981 substitute schedule entries in rule 9, update cross references in rules 10-12 to include newly inserted Tables 44-46, and prescribe payable amounts and computation tables for accounts opened on or after the stated commencement date, covering continuation with monthly deposits, continuation without fresh deposits, and nominee/legal heir payables on depositor's death.

Interest rate on post office savings accounts fixed by notification as an annual rate, effective from early December.
Government notification under the Post Office Savings Account Rules, 1981 fixes interest on balances at credit of Post Office savings accounts at an annual rate of four per cent, effective from 1 December 2011, specifying the operative interest payable on deposited balances.

Provisional Duty Assessment: provisional duty may be fixed against bond and partial deposit; shortfall payable upon final assessment.
Regulations permit provisional assessment where self-assessment is not possible or the proper officer cannot verify or re-assess duty; the proper officer estimates a provisional duty. Provisional assessment is allowed if the importer or exporter executes a bond undertaking to pay any deficiency between the final assessment and the provisional duty and deposits a directed sum not exceeding twenty per cent of the provisional duty. Bonds must secure payment of any shortfall and, where required, the production of documents; the officer may insist on surety or security and a penalty is prescribed for contraventions.

Electronic shipping bill filing: system-generated number deems filing complete and triggers customs clearance procedures.
An authorised person may enter the electronic declaration via ICEGATE or a service centre in the prescribed format; when the electronic declaration is accepted and a unique number is generated by the system the shipping bill is deemed to have been filed and, where applicable, self-assessment of duty is complete. The authorised person must present the checklist, supporting export documents and any duty/cess challan to the proper officer, who after permitting clearance generates and retains the customs copy and issues other endorsed copies to the authorised person.

Bill of Entry electronic filing via ICEGATE deemed filing and self-assessment; originals presented for customs clearance.
These regulations require importers or authorised persons to submit a Bill of Entry as an electronic declaration via ICEGATE or service centre in the prescribed annexure format; generation of a bill of entry number by the Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange System is deemed filing and completion of self-assessment of duty. After assessment, the authorised person must present the original customs copy, duty-paid challan and supporting documents to the proper officer, who will retain the original and issue duplicate and triplicate copies.

Anti-dumping duty on hot rolled stainless steel imports targeting specified producers and exporters to address dumped imports.
The Central Government, acting on the designated authority's findings that Hot Rolled Flat Products of Stainless Steel (ASTM Grade 304 and equivalents) were dumped into India causing material and cumulative injury to domestic industry, imposes definitive anti-dumping duty. A duty table specifies origins, export origins, named producers and exporters with nil or specified duty rates per metric tonne; other combinations attract definitive rates. The duty is levied for five years, payable in Indian currency, with the rate of exchange determined by notification under the Customs Act and the relevant date being presentation of the bill of entry.

Commission rates for small savings agents revised, certain scheme commissions discontinued and state incentives offset against central commission.
Notification sets commission for MPKBY agents at 4% for Five Year Recurring Deposit accounts and for SAS agents at 0.5% for One Year, Two Year/Three Year and Five Year Time Deposits, Monthly Income Account, Five/Six Year NSC (VIII Issue) and Ten Year NSC (IX Issue). It discontinues commission on Public Provident Fund and Senior Citizens Savings Scheme and provides that state/UT incentives will be reduced from central commission payments. Effective date: 1 December 2011.

Anti-dumping duty on opal glassware imposed against imports from China and UAE, with specified differentiated rates.
Definitive anti-dumping duty imposed on Opal Glassware (tariff heading 7013) from China and the UAE following findings of export below normal value and material injury caused cumulatively by subject imports. The notification specifies producer- and exporter-specific percentage duty rates, applies the duty as a percentage of CIF value (defined as the assessable value under the Customs Act, 1962), and fixes the levy for the statutory period from the provisional imposition, subject to revocation, supersession or amendment.

Branch authorisation for Bank of India to accept PPF and Senior Citizens Savings subscriptions, subject to timely remittance and penalties.
Authorisation is granted to specified branches of Bank of India to receive subscriptions under the Public Provident Fund Scheme, 1968 and Senior Citizens Savings Scheme Rules, 2004, effective immediately. Conditions: remittances must be credited to Government Account at RBI CAS Nagpur within three days; delayed remittances attract penalty equal to interest payable to depositor plus an additional surcharge depending on delay duration; non observance of scheme rules may lead to penal action or de authorisation and pecuniary liabilities will be borne by the bank.

Minimum Export Price controls for onions revised, reducing prescribed FOB export rates for general and specified varieties.
The Central Government amended export-price restrictions for onions under the Foreign Trade Policy by reducing the prescribed Minimum Export Prices for specified serial entries: a revised MEP for the general onion category and a separate revised MEP for Bangalore Rose and Krishnapuram varieties, each substituting earlier notified F.O.B. rates and remaining subject to further notification by the trade authority.

On-site fabrication exemption expanded to include additional specified iron and steel construction goods for construction projects.
Amendment substitutes the Table entry against Serial No. 64 in Notification No. 3/2005-Central Excise to extend the exemption for fabrication of goods at site for construction to goods of headings 7305 and 7308, effected under the executive amendment power on public interest grounds and published as the specified amending notification.

Customs duty exemption for defence MR SAM imports requires authorised works centres and certified import lists, with restricted programme use.
The notification inserts an exemption for specified goods imported for the MR SAM programme, conditional on import by authorised works centres designated by a senior Ministry of Defence officer and on production at import of a Programme Director certified list to the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of Customs confirming the goods are required for, authorised for, and will be used solely in the MR SAM programme; the exemption is time bound and terminates on the notification's stated expiry date.

Customs exemption amendment: restricts exemption to large LCD TV panels and removes actual user condition.
Substitutes the table entries for S. No. 319A in the customs exemption notification to limit the exemptible goods to LCD TV panels of 20 inches and above and removes the prior actual user condition by replacing the corresponding column entry with "-", thereby narrowing the exemption and altering eligibility mechanics under the notification.

Rescission of notification revokes a prior central excise exemption under section 5A while preserving prior acts.
Rescission of notification No.14/2007-Central Excise under section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 withdraws the earlier exemption notification on public interest grounds, and revokes its operative exemptions while expressly preserving acts done or omitted prior to the rescission by a savings clause.

Tariff value fixation updated for edible oils and scrap, setting prescribed import values for customs assessment and clearance.
Amendment substitutes the tariff-value Table in Notification No. 36/2001-Cus (N.T.) to fix import tariff values per metric tonne for specified commodities including grades of palm oil and palmolein, crude soyabean oil, brass scrap (all grades) and poppy seeds; importers and customs officers must apply these substituted tariff values for customs assessment.

De-notification of SEZ land reduces the notified area following government exercise of statutory powers under the SEZ Act.
The Central Government, satisfied that statutory prerequisites were fulfilled, exercised the second proviso to sub section (1) of Section 4 of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 and rule 8 of the Special Economic Zone Rules, 2006 to de-notify 49-89-94 hectares from the Dahej multi-product SEZ, revising the net SEZ area to 1682-65-40 hectares and amending the schedule of affected survey numbers with their new area entries as set out in the notification.