Tokyo, Aug 25 (PTI) Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said the government is working on a framework to exempt high-tech sector companies, including from Japan, from mandatory Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification for equipment and components needed to set up manufacturing facilities in India. Goyal said he had taken note of concerns raised by Japanese companies over BIS certification requirements and that the government had already instructed the BIS and the Com... ... ...

Corporate social responsibility should prioritise measurable community outcomes rather than expenditure alone. Effective CSR depends on community-responsive design, capable implementing agencies, rigorous monitoring, social audits, and transparent use of technology and data. Public sector enterprises may use thematic priorities, convergence with government programmes, and institutional collaboration to replace isolated interventions with strategic CSR. CSR capacity building encompasses legal and regulatory frameworks, governance, project planning, impact assessment, reporting, ESG and the Social Stock Exchange.

Regional Rural Banks achieved prescribed priority-sector lending targets and sub-targets, expanded financial inclusion through new Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana accounts, and recorded improvement in profitability, asset quality, and credit-deposit ratio. Digital banking adoption is to be accelerated to improve operational efficiency, customer experience, and banking access in rural and remote areas. Sponsor Banks are expected to strengthen information-technology infrastructure and support increased area-specific credit flows and innovative lending.

The State tax exemption schedule substitutes the entry for tariff heading 1209 to cover seeds, fruit and spores of a kind used for sowing. Seeds intended for any use other than sowing are expressly excluded, restricting exemption treatment to products used for sowing. The substituted entry takes effect from 1 October 2021.

GST registration applications require biometric Aadhaar authentication and photograph capture where Aadhaar authentication is chosen, or biometric information, photograph, notified KYC documents and original-document verification where it is not chosen. Registration may be suspended where return comparisons or related analyses reveal significant discrepancies indicating contraventions that may lead to cancellation, with FORM GST REG-31 requiring an explanation within thirty days. Input tax credit restrictions are tightened, and Rule 86B limits electronic credit ledger use for output-tax payment, subject to specified exceptions and possible removal after verification.

SHRI N.R.S. GANESAN, JUDICIAL MEMBER AND SHRI D.S.SUNDER SINGH, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER For the Appellant : Mr. Sharath Rao, CA For the Respondent : Mr. Shiva Srinivas, JCIT ORDER PER D.S.SUNDER SINGH, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER : These appeals are filed by the assessee against the Orders dated 13.04.2016 of Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), Puducherry, in ITA Nos.06 & 07 [2014-15 & 531 (2013-14)]/CIT(A)-PDY for the AYs 2008-09 to 2010-11 decided in common order. Facts of the case for the AY... ... ...

The Joint Commissioner is authorized to extend the one-year and three-year periods specified under section 143(1). The respective extensions cannot exceed one year and two years. This assigned function may be exercised only within the Joint Commissioner's territorial jurisdiction and remains subject to the prescribed extension limits.

Consumer-focused review of the ethanol-blended fuel policy is sought because higher ethanol diversion may affect domestic sugar availability and prices, potentially requiring sugar imports that could reduce claimed foreign-exchange savings from lower petroleum imports. The review should address ethanol and sugar production, domestic prices, imports, and consumer, environmental and economic concerns. Availability of lower-blend fuel alongside E20 is advocated for owners of older vehicles, with consumer choice between E10 and E20 supporting a comprehensive reassessment.

Economic resilience is attributed to buoyant domestic demand, sustained manufacturing and services activity, and double-digit merchandise trade growth. Improved southwest monsoon conditions supported kharif sowing and partly reduced agricultural risks, although geopolitical frictions and fresh United States tariffs remained external risks. Supply-side pressures raised consumer price inflation, while stable core inflation indicated limited cost pass-through. Easing liquidity, credit growth, investment activity and rebounding foreign capital inflows supported financial and external-sector conditions.

Sugar market intervention combines permitted imports of raw sugar, stockholding limits for dealers and bulk consumers, and an existing export ban to address sharp increases in retail and wholesale prices. Limits on inventories held by trade participants and large industrial consumers are intended to curb speculation and hoarding. Although ex-mill rates declined after the import decision and anti-hoarding measures, the reduction had not yet translated fully into retail prices. The measures seek to supplement domestic availability and restrain practices that may intensify consumer-price increases.

Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners and State Tax Officers are authorised within their respective jurisdictions to perform section 74A functions, excluding those under sub-section (7). Their assigned function covers determination, for financial year 2024-25 onwards, of tax not paid or short paid, tax erroneously refunded, and input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised.

United States-Canada trade tensions have intensified after tariffs were imposed on Canadian goods following unsuccessful bilateral talks. Canada is expected to pursue retaliatory measures, potentially using targeted action to protect workers and businesses rather than matching tariffs directly. Further tariff threats concern vehicles, auto parts and steel. Integrated cross-border supply chains in automotive, energy, agriculture and manufacturing face increased costs and consumer-price uncertainty. Consideration of renaming Lake Ontario as "Lake America" has also been linked to the escalating dispute.

PAIMANA-PROJ monitors Central Sector infrastructure projects costing Rs. 150 crore and above across 17 Ministries and Departments. As of July 2026, 1,775 projects with a revised cost of Rs. 37.11 lakh crore were under monitoring, with cumulative expenditure of Rs. 19.26 lakh crore. Transport and Logistics formed the largest monitored sector, followed by Energy. The portfolio included mega and major projects at varying physical and financial completion stages. PAIMANA-CRIP serves as the central infrastructure-project data repository, with most data updated through APIs.

Plant Growth Regulator quality control seeks to protect farmers and orchardists from spurious products sold in the open market. Licensed pesticide and fungicide outlets receive application schedules, while farmer awareness is stressed due to purchases of cheaper PGRs that may not achieve expected results. Rootstock imports require quarantine clearance, and uncertified rootstock purchased from the market is associated with disease spread in orchards. Regulatory measures include direct departmental sale of branded chemicals, promotion of weather-based crop insurance, and demands concerning minimum support pricing and Market Intervention Scheme documentation.

Proper-officer designations under the Gujarat Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 are revised for return-scrutiny functions, with effect from 1 July 2017. Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners and State Tax Officers are designated to scrutinise returns and to intimate registered persons where explanations furnished in response to such scrutiny are found acceptable.

Specialised software-related services, including report development, database updates, project support and training, constitute fees for technical services subject to tax deduction under section 194J; routine annual maintenance and repair remain excluded. Software licences granting a right to use copyrighted software, rather than transferring copyright ownership, are treated as royalty and also attract deduction under section 194J. Where recipients have paid tax on the relevant income, short-deduction demand cannot continue to that extent after verification, although interest remains payable until the tax-payment date. Absolute acquisition of copyrights and technical know-how is an outright capital acquisition, not royalty, and does not attract such deduction or related interest.

Maharashtra's anti-conversion law has commenced, and churches across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region have sought written self-declarations confirming voluntary prayer attendance without pressure. Food-safety oversight requires cleaning of cricket association eateries before a further inspection. Enforcement matters include investigation into unauthorised shop demolitions allegedly involving misuse of a municipal corporation's name, arrests connected with spurious-liquor manufacture, and a cyber-fraud network allegedly using mule accounts to launder proceeds. A retired High Court judge has been appointed as Lokayukta.

Customs detention recorded only through a panchnama cannot substitute for a reasoned statutory seizure or restraint order where imported goods are suspected to be liable to confiscation. Physical seizure being impracticable requires an order regulating custody or restraining dealings with the goods. Prolonged detention cannot be used to defer the limitation period for a confiscation notice by issuing a seizure memo later; the prescribed period runs from detention, subject only to the permitted statutory extension. Provisional-release conditions requiring a bond and bank guarantee are unsustainable where founded on an invalidated circular provision that restricts adjudicatory discretion.

Customs seizure safeguards require more than a panchnama restricting dealings with an imported vehicle. Such a panchnama constitutes detention, not lawful seizure, unless a separate reasoned order records belief that the goods are liable to confiscation and, where physical seizure is impracticable, satisfaction under the applicable proviso. Authorities cannot retain goods indefinitely as detained and later issue a seizure memo to bypass limitation for a confiscation notice; without a lawful contemporaneous seizure order, limitation runs from actual detention. Provisional-release conditions founded on an invalidated circular provision are illegal. Release of the imported vehicle was directed, with costs imposed.

Airport tariff regulation for Hyderabad airport fixes reduced User Development Fee for departing domestic and international passengers from 1 September 2026 through 31 March 2031, with rationalised landing charges. The tariff determination applies the incremental Aggregate Revenue Requirement framework, linking airport-charge cost recovery to completion, commissioning and use of identified high-value capital expenditure projects. A variable tariff plan provides landing-charge incentives upon prescribed qualifying conditions, supporting traffic development and route expansion while requiring cost-reflective, transparent and non-discriminatory aeronautical tariffs.