End-to-end automation of concessional import regime streamlines electronic filings and introduces monthly compliance reporting on a common portal.
Amendments require submission of all requisite details electronically via a common portal with standardized forms, remove transaction-based permissions and automate claim procedures for notification benefits. Importers must file a Monthly Statement on the portal to monitor use of goods for intended purposes, and may make voluntary payment of duties and interest through the portal, consolidating reporting, payment and compliance within a single electronic system.

Export duty change: reduction in duty for raw buffalo hides and skins under Notification No.27/2011, altering export tariff treatment.
Amendment to Notification No.27/2011 revises the export duty applicable to raw buffalo hides and skins under the Chapter 41 leather tariff, substituting the prior duty rate with a reduced rate for that specified commodity; the change takes effect from 2 February 2022 and alters the customs export tariff treatment for exporters of raw buffalo hides and skins.

Anti-dumping duty revocations remove specified steel import remedies and withdraw corresponding notifications under the 2022 finance measures.
The Finance Bill 2022 permanently revokes specified trade remedy measures: Anti-Dumping duty on (a) straight length alloy-steel bars and rods from the People's Republic of China (notification No. 54/2018-Cus), (b) non-cobalt high speed steel from Brazil, the People's Republic of China and Germany (notification No. 38/2019-Cus), and (c) flat rolled steel plated or coated with aluminium or zinc from the People's Republic of China, Vietnam and Korea RP (notification No. 16/2020-Cus). Countervailing duty on certain hot and cold rolled stainless steel flat products from the People's Republic of China (notification No. 1/2017-Cus) is also revoked.

Concessional duty for EV kits clarified-kits with essential EV character qualify even if some components are absent.
Removal of the SPF requirement for live L. vannamei shrimp places regulation with the Department of Fisheries. Amendments clarify that CKD/SKD EV kits qualify for concessional duty if the presented kit has the essential character of an EV even when some components are missing, and delete unused parts from the two wheeler EV concessional entry.

Customs cess exemptions expanded: additional cesses removed on specified concessional imports and rare disease drug imports exempted.
Multiple customs notifications granting duty exemptions for specified concessional imports are amended to also exempt Health Cess, Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess and Road and Infrastructure Cess as applicable; additionally, a new tariff entry exempts drugs and medicines for treatment of rare diseases when imported by designated Centres of Excellence or on their recommendation, reflecting the National Policy for Rare Diseases.

Social welfare surcharge exemption changes narrow and withdraw exemptions for specified tariff items, while exempting other listed imports.
Amendment to Notification No. 11/2018-Customs revises Social Welfare Surcharge treatment by granting SWS exemptions for specified tariff subheadings (including certain fruits, oil products and textile yarns/fabrics) while withdrawing or narrowing exemptions for multiple garment and textile tariff items, thereby changing SWS incidence on imports classified under the listed tariff items and sub-headings.

Duty-free imports for exporters: end-use monitored inputs require timely export of value-added goods under IGCR compliance.
A scheme permits duty-free imports for bonafide exporters on an end-use monitoring basis, requiring use of imported inputs to manufacture value-added export goods within a prescribed period and adherence to the Import of Goods at Concessional Rate Rules, 2017. Operational changes amend conditions for S. No. 257, insert S. No. 257A (decorative and ancillary items for handicrafts), S. No. 257B (fasteners, inlay cards, lining materials, wet blue leather for textile/leather garments), and S. No. 257C (buckles, buttons, locks for footwear/leather products); S. No. 288 is omitted as subsumed.

Basic customs duty changes revise import duty and health cess rates across multiple tariff items, effective early February.
Proposals amend Basic Customs Duty and Health Cess rates effective 2.2.2022 by specifying revised duties for listed tariff items. The schedule sets prior and proposed rates across commodity groups-agricultural products, fuels and chemicals, paper, gems and jewellery, metals, electrical and electronics, medical devices, toys and capital goods-and includes sector measures such as extension of an iron and steel scrap exemption and changes for camera lenses, PCB inputs, X ray items, surgical needles, recovered paper and capital goods components.

Phased customs duty changes on electronic imports introduce staged rates for components and finished devices to incentivise local manufacture.
Proposed amendments establish phased basic customs duty schedules under the Phased Manufacturing Program for wrist wearable devices, hearable devices, and smart meters, specifying year-by-year duty rates for identified components, sub-assemblies and finished units. IGCR conditions apply to enumerated component entries. The schedules distinguish classification-based parts and ''any chapter'' inputs, generally providing lower or nil duties initially for parts to encourage local assembly while setting distinct trajectories for imported finished products and assemblies.

Customs duty concessions review phases out concessional exemptions across sectors, replacing many with standard duty rates and sunset clauses.
A comprehensive pruning of customs duty concessions withdraws, phases out, or time limits multiple BCD exemptions across sectors under notification No. 50/2017 and related standalone notifications. Sectoral concessions for textiles, power, petroleum, leather, food packaging and others are omitted or scheduled for staged withdrawal; select items are retained. Project imports face a uniform substituted BCD rate for new projects while existing projects are grandfathered for a transitional period. Section 25(4A) end date rules are applied to conditional exemptions and obsolete notifications are rescinded or merged.

Customs tariff amendments rationalize Basic Customs Duty and consolidate notification based rates into the statutory Schedule.
Amendments to the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 prescribe immediate provisional increases for selected items and effect a statutory consolidation of applied Basic Customs Duty rates previously administered through notifications. Transitional provisions maintain certain notification based rates for an interim period, after which corresponding entries will be omitted and BCD rates will operate through the Schedule. The package includes sectoral rationalisations across electronics, solar, agriculture, chemicals, textiles, metals and medical instruments, and adds new tariff entries to align with HS 2022 and departmental requests.

Validation of prior customs actions confirms retrospective legality of acts performed pursuant to officers' appointments and assignments.
A provision in the Finance Bill, 2022 introduces a validation clause to validate any action taken or function performed before the commencement of the Finance Act, 2022 by an officer of Customs (as specified in amended Section 3) where such action was in pursuance of that officer's appointment and assignment of functions by the Central Government or the Board under specified Chapters of the Customs Act.

Assignment of functions to customs officers affirmed, with limits, concurrent powers, revised advance ruling rules, and data protection.
The Finance Bill expressly authorises the Board or the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner to assign functions to officers as proper officers, to impose conditions or limitations (including by territory or goods), and to allow concurrent exercise of powers. Section 3 includes DRI, Audit and Preventive formations within customs officers. Amendments also enable rules imposing additional importer obligations to counter undervaluation, revise advance ruling fees, withdrawal and validity, confirm sole jurisdiction of the original officer for reassessment after inquiries, and criminalise unlawful publication of import/export declaration data.

Customs duty definitions clarify types of cess and additional duties and state amendments take effect upon enactment.
The memorandum defines principal customs charge types - Basic Customs Duty, Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess, Road and Infrastructure Cess, Health Cess, and Social Welfare Surcharge - links each to existing statutory provisions, notes clause numbers in square brackets refer to Bill clauses, and states amendments in the Finance Bill, 2022, take effect on the date of enactment unless otherwise specified.

Updated return scheme: voluntary disclosure with staged additional tax and required proof of payment for compliance.
A voluntary updated return regime is proposed by inserting section 139(8A) permitting any person to furnish a prescribed updated return within twenty four months from the end of the relevant assessment year, subject to exclusions where it reduces tax or where specified enforcement actions or proceedings exist. The updated return must be accompanied by proof of payment of tax, interest, fee and an additional tax computed as a staged percentage of tax and interest payable; computation rules, credit adjustments and interest calculations are detailed in newly proposed section 140B, and related consequential amendments are proposed.

Slump sale definition amended to replace 'sales' with 'transfer', clarifying scope of transfers under tax law.
The statutory definition of slump sale is amended to substitute the word "sales" with "transfer", clarifying that a slump sale means the transfer of one or more undertakings for a lump sum consideration without values being assigned to individual assets and liabilities, and the amendment is given retrospective effect to apply to the specified assessment year and subsequent assessment years.

Goodwill treatment: reduction from block of assets deemed a transfer, triggering capital gains consequences and cost adjustment.
Goodwill is not a depreciable asset and where purchased its purchase price remains the cost of acquisition for capital gains computation, after reducing any depreciation previously claimed; reduction of goodwill from the block of assets is deemed a transfer for capital gains purposes and the clarificatory amendment applies retrospectively to the relevant assessment year and subsequent years.

Income-tax authority definition revised to limit qualifying officers to those specified by the Board, altering entry-and-verification scope.
The proposed amendment restricts the definition of income-tax authority to officers who are subordinate to the Principal Director General or Director General or Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner as specified by the Board, thereby limiting which subordinate officers may exercise entry and verification powers under the section; the amendment takes effect from 1 April, 2022.

Relaxation of late filing fee enables administrative orders to relieve classes facing genuine hardship from mandated fee imposition.
The amendment expressly adds the statutory late filing fee into the list of provisions for which the Board may, by general or special order, provide relaxation or relief for classes of incomes or cases; this enables the Board to issue orders to exempt or mitigate the fee for persons facing genuine hardships in filing returns on time.

Revision powers under section 263 expand to permit review of Transfer Pricing Officer orders with mandated implementation timelines.
Proposed amendments grant senior officers assigned transfer pricing jurisdiction power under section 263 to call for and examine TPO records and to revise TPO orders deemed erroneous and prejudicial to revenue. Section 153 is modified so subsections (3) and (5) apply to TPO orders, a new subsection (5A) obliges the Assessing Officer to modify assessments in conformity with a TPO order within two months of receipt, and related implementation provisions are extended to such orders.