Basic customs duty revisions reshape import protection and input relief across agriculture, metals, electronics and renewable sectors.
Revisions to Basic Customs Duty rates effective 2 February 2021 adjust import protection and input duty treatment across sectors: raised duties on selected agricultural by products, leather and silk intermediates; re rating of chemicals, plastics and mineral inputs; reorganised duties and an added cess for precious metals and related items; targeted lower or nil rates for specified electronics, telecom and renewable energy inputs to incentivise domestic manufacture; and newly dutiable capital goods and transitional concessions for raw materials supporting local industry.

Project Imports Scheme inclusion expands import concessions for high-speed rail projects; sponsoring authority designated to approve required imports.
High-Speed Rail projects are included in the Project Imports Scheme, making them eligible for project-specific import treatment under the Project Import Regulations. A designated Sponsoring Authority is empowered to approve the items to be imported under the scheme for High-Speed Rail Projects, centralising approval of project imports for that project class.

Withdrawal of basic customs duty exemptions narrows concessional tariff coverage, removing listed goods from notification relief.
The Finance Bill, 2021 proposes pruning concessional Basic Customs Duty by omitting specified entries from notification No. 50/2017 Customs, thereby withdrawing BCD exemptions for listed goods - including a chemical intermediate for spandex yarn, printer consumables, and multiple apparel and accessory components - with certain omissions carrying stated commencement dates.

IGCR Rules compliance required for concessional-duty import entries, with jurisdictional verification and rescission of select exemption notifications.
Amends notification No. 50/2017-Customs to prescribe observance of the Customs (Import of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty) Rules, 2017 for specified conditional entries, empowers the changed jurisdictional authority to issue end use certificates for past periods after verification, and rescinds or merges selected standalone duty exemption notifications to rationalise concessional import conditions.

Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess imposed on specified imports, adjusting customs duties to fund farm infrastructure.
An Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) is proposed on specified imports effective 02.02.2021 under Clause 115 of the Finance Bill, 2021 to finance agricultural infrastructure; the proposal imposes itemised AIDC rates while lowering certain basic customs duty rates so consumer burden is not increased in most cases, covering edible oils, pulses, alcoholic beverages, coal, fertilisers, cotton, and precious metals with a detailed tariff schedule.

Tariff classification update: notification entries revised to clarify exclusions and omit redundant entries in customs schedule.
Amendments to notification No. 50/2017-Customs revise HS transpositions and commodity descriptions, specify exclusions for pulses, omit temporally redundant or duplicate entries, replace broad chapter references with specific headings, insert an explanation to exclude toy balloons of natural rubber latex from an exemption, simplify concessional-rate language for newsprint and similar uncoated papers, and delete redundant proviso clauses to prevent misclassification and remove ambiguity.

Social Welfare Surcharge changes narrow its application, exempting AIDC and limiting levy to value plus basic customs duty.
Modification to the Social Welfare Surcharge: Notification No. 12/2018-Customs prescribing a 3% rate on certain items including gold and silver is rescinded; SWS is rescinded on goods under headings 2515 11 and 2515 12; SWS is exempted on the value of AIDC for gold and silver, so SWS will apply only on value plus basic customs duty.

Anti-dumping duty rules revised to require earlier final findings and permit provisional anti circumvention assessments; select duties revoked.
Amendments require designated authorities in ADD and CVD review cases to issue final findings at least three months before duty expiry and allow provisional assessment in anti circumvention investigations; safeguard rules are reworked to detail implementation and renamed Safeguard Measures. Specific temporary revocations and discontinuations of anti dumping and countervailing duties on listed steel and alloy products from specified origins are announced.

Excise duty definitions clarified in Finance Bill, with specified duties and amendments effective on enactment.
The Finance Bill, 2021 defines Basic Excise Duty by reference to the Fourth Schedule of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and identifies Road and Infrastructure Cess, Special Additional Excise Duty, and NCCD with their statutory origins; it also indicates clause numbering conventions and provides that amendments in the Bill take effect on enactment unless otherwise stated.

Tariff amendment: retrospective validation of a prior Fourth Schedule change and insertion of new harmonised tariff items with prescribed duty.
The document amends the Fourth Schedule: a prior notification amending the Schedule is made effective retrospectively from the start of the stated year; new tariff items are inserted in Chapter 24 to align with the upcoming Harmonised System nomenclature and a prescribed tariff rate is imposed on those items effective from the commencement of the new nomenclature year.

Retrospective tariff amendment clarifies classification and prescribes increased excise duty rates effective retrospectively from budget measures.
Retrospective amendments to Chapter 27 of the Fourth Schedule to the Central Excise Act correct the Indian Standard for tariff item 27101249 to IS 17076 and prescribe a combined ad valorem and specific per litre excise duty for tariff items 2710 20 10 and 2710 20 20, all effective from 01.01.2020, as proposed in the Finance Bill, 2021.

Tariff amendment revises Chapter 27 classifications for petroleum oils, altering excise duty treatment effective next fiscal year.
Amendment substitutes entries in Chapter 27 of the Fourth Schedule to the Central Excise Act, 1944 revising tariff items for petroleum oils: petroleum crude is classified under tariff item 2709 00 10 assessed per kilogram with a nil excise duty, and a substituted entry for other petroleum oils appears under 2709 00 20 assessed per kilogram with the duty entry not specified in the extract; the amendment is linked to the Finance Bill and is stated to take effect from the next fiscal year.

Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess on petrol and diesel imposed for agriculture infrastructure funding, effective immediately.
An additional duty of excise, the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess, is proposed on motor spirit (petrol) and high speed diesel by the Finance Bill, 2021 to finance agriculture infrastructure and related development expenditure. The proposal sets fixed per litre cess rates for each fuel and declares the levy effective immediately through the provisional tax collection mechanism, thereby earmarking cess proceeds for agriculture infrastructure and development spending.

Excise duty adjustment: reductions in basic and special additional excise duties offset the new AIDC to protect consumers.
A new AIDC on petrol and high speed diesel takes effect from 02.02.2021, with concurrent reductions in Basic Excise Duty and Special Additional Excise Duty so consumers do not face additional burden. Revised per litre compositions: petrol unbranded BED 1.4, SAED 11, AIDC 2.5; petrol branded BED 2.6, SAED 11, AIDC 2.5; diesel unbranded BED 1.8, SAED 8, AIDC 4; diesel branded BED 4.2, SAED 8, AIDC 4.

Exemptions for blended fuels: cesses and surcharges waived for M-15 and E-20 where inputs are duty paid.
Exemptions align excise cesses and surcharges for M-15 and E-20 with existing treatment for lower blends, provided the blended fuels are produced from duty-paid inputs; amendments to central excise notifications extend tax relief to higher-percentage blends on the same eligibility condition tied to the duty status of upstream inputs.

NCCD on newly inserted tobacco tariff items imposed under the finance measure, becoming chargeable upon HS 2022 implementation.
Two new tariff items, inserted to align with the HS 2022 nomenclature, are added to Schedule VII of the Finance Act, 2001 and made subject to National Calamity Contingent Duty; the prescribed NCCD rate applies to these tariff entries with effect from the implementation date of HS 2022.

Commencement of GST amendments: Finance Bill measures effective on notification and aligned with state enactments.
Amendments to the Goods and Services Tax framework introduced in the Finance Bill, 2021 will come into effect only when they are notified, and, insofar as practicable, will be notified concurrently with corresponding amendments enacted by States and Union Territories having legislatures; the Bill treats the CGST Act, 2017 and the IGST Act, 2017 as the governing central and integrated GST enactments.

CGST amendments tighten taxation of related party supplies and revise returns, credit, interest, enforcement and appeal rules.
Finance Bill, 2021 amends the CGST Act to: tax supplies between non individuals and members retrospectively; limit input tax credit to supplier reported outward supplies; replace mandatory audited reconciliation and account audits with self certified annual returns; charge interest on net cash liability retrospectively; separate seizure/confiscation from tax recovery; make provisional attachment valid through proceedings and one year after order; condition certain appeals on payment of part of penalty; clarify self assessed tax includes outward supplies omitted from returns; expand information calling powers while preserving a hearing requirement.

Zero-rating of supplies to SEZs limited to authorised operations; zero-rating on payment restricted to notified taxpayers, refund linked to forex.
Amendments narrow zero-rated supplies to Special Economic Zone developers or units to transactions for authorised operations; restrict zero-rating on payment of integrated tax to notified classes of taxpayers or notified supplies; and connect export refund entitlement to actual foreign exchange remittance, thereby conditioning refunds on realization documentation.

Refund entitlement for unutilised input tax credit limited to credits from input goods under inverted duty structure.
The document contrasts two high court approaches to refund of unutilised input tax credit under an inverted duty structure: one holding that Net ITC for refund must include credits on inputs and input services and striking down a rule excluding input services as ultra vires; the other upholding the proviso that limits refund to credit accumulated because tax on input goods exceeds tax on output supplies, finding an amended rule that excludes input services to be intra vires and a valid legislative classification.