The Authority may grant a Certificate of Authorisation to an eligible applicant complying with prescribed conditions, subject to further conditions considered appropriate. The certificate remains valid unless revoked or surrendered. A Payment Service Provider may be required to maintain a security deposit, must identify a consenting IFSC Banking Unit or IFSC Banking Company as its Nodal Bank, and must intimate material changes to previously furnished information. Conditions for commencing or continuing Payment Services may be modified.

In-principle approval may be issued where an application prima facie satisfies authorisation conditions, subject to further conditions specified by the Authority. It does not confer an automatic right to authorisation and remains subject to the Authority's discretion. Applicants must disclose ownership or control changes during its validity. Such changes require review of the approval decision, communication of the outcome, and a reasonable opportunity of hearing before revocation.

Payment Service Provider authorisation depends on relevant experience, adequate operational infrastructure, compliance with net-worth requirements and financial soundness. The applicant and relevant persons must meet fit and proper requirements, with prior refusals of authorisation and proceedings for breach of law also considered. Adequate protection of Payment Services Users, including through governing terms and conditions, is required.

Fit and proper requirements apply to applicants seeking authorisation as Payment Service Providers and to authorised Payment Service Providers. Directors, Key Managerial Personnel, and persons exercising control, collectively termed Relevant Persons, must meet the standards in Schedule II. The Authority may evaluate any Relevant Person during authorisation processing or later. Where its evaluation differs from that of an applicant or provider, the Authority's evaluation prevails.

Payment Service Providers must maintain the minimum net worth prescribed in Schedule V on an ongoing basis. Additional net worth requirements resulting from review must be met within 180 days from communication. The Authority may establish a framework for prompt corrective action where net worth falls below applicable requirements and may require net worth stress tests to assess capacity to withstand adverse economic scenarios.

Authorisation of payment service providers requires an applicant seeking authorisation to be incorporated as a company and to maintain its registered office in an International Financial Services Centre.

Persons intending to provide Payment Services in or from an IFSC must apply for authorisation as a Payment Service Provider in the specified format and manner, with the prescribed non-refundable fee. Persons listed in Schedule IV are exempt. Authorised providers may offer one or more Payment Services identified in Part A of Schedule I. A provider meeting the additional conditions in Part C of Schedule I is designated a Significant Payment Service Provider.

Authorisation for Payment Services is mandatory for any person seeking to provide Payment Services in or from an International Financial Services Centre. A certificate of authorisation under the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Payment Services) Regulations, 2024 is required before commencing or carrying on such activity.

Payment services comprise activities specified in Part A of Schedule I, excluding those in Part B. A payment service provider is an authorised company, and payment transactions include the placement, transfer, or withdrawal of money irrespective of an underlying obligation. Cross-border money transfer services cover outbound transmissions from IFSC and inbound receipts for transmission to persons in or outside IFSC. E-money is prepaid electronically stored foreign-currency value that creates a claim on its issuer, while deposits are excluded.

Payment services in International Financial Services Centres are governed under the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Payment Services) Regulations, 2024. The Authority makes the Regulations pursuant to statutory regulation-making powers under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019. Commencement is conditional upon publication in the Official Gazette, and legal effect begins on the date of publication.

BATF Services in an IFSC require registration, except for specified Ancillary Service Providers subject to transitional conditions. Applicants must be established as a company or limited liability partnership in the IFSC, maintain fit-and-proper status, and serve only eligible non-resident recipients. Safeguarding conditions prohibit business splitting, reconstruction or reorganisation involving existing Indian operations, asset transfers from Indian group entities, and transfer or replacement of existing group-entity contracts. Providers must appoint qualified IFSC-based Principal and Compliance Officers, operate in specified foreign currency, undertake prescribed reporting, and obtain annual independent compliance certification.

Faceless assessment applies to imports primarily under Chapter 29 in Appraisement Group 2A across Mumbai Customs Zones I, II and III. Covered Bills of Entry are assigned through the Customs Automated System to Faceless Assessment Groups. Nodal Commissioners must monitor speedy and uniform assessments and ensure procedures for verification, speaking orders, review, demand adjudication, provisional assessment, amendments, and electronic communication are followed. The Turant Suvidha Kendra supports relevant functions, while jurisdictional Customs Appeals Commissioners may hear appeals despite the assessing officer being located elsewhere.

Faceless assessment of imported goods in Mumbai Customs Zone II is extended beyond Group 2A in phased coverage of specified import groups. Bills of Entry concerning these groups are assigned by the Customs Automated System to officers in the respective Faceless Assessment Groups. Principal Commissioners/Commissioners act as Nodal Commissioners to monitor speedy and uniform assessment, while assessment groups operate under Commissioner-level control. Jurisdictional Commissioners of Customs (Appeals) may hear appeals for imports within their jurisdiction despite assessment by an officer at another Customs station.

Prior GST clarifications concerning secondary or post-sales discounts are withdrawn ab initio under the Goa Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The withdrawal follows representations raising apprehensions about their implications and is intended to secure uniform implementation across field formations. It removes the operative effect of the earlier guidance from its original date of issue and precludes reliance on those clarifications.

Enforcement under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 targeted drug trafficking through intelligence-led interceptions of cannabis, charas/hashish, cocaine and amphetamine consignments. More than 845 kg of contraband was seized across rail, road and airport transit points, with 15 persons arrested. Operations addressed cross-border and domestic movement, including concealment in clothing, baggage, commercial cargo, consumer-product containers and textiles, and extended to a receiver and organiser linked to amphetamine trafficking.

Industrial-relations engagement addresses strike action seeking a five-day banking week and withdrawal of the Performance Linked Incentive scheme. The scheme has been kept in abeyance, while conciliation continues on the five-day workweek demand. Employees are urged to resolve issues through dialogue and maintain uninterrupted banking services. Workforce measures include revised pay scales, welfare benefits, streamlined recruitment and promotions, improved transfers, pension-related benefits, medical insurance, disability-related allowances, and early negotiations for the next Bipartite Settlement.

The cooperative framework supports preventive drug-awareness campaigns, youth-empowerment initiatives and community outreach programmes through value-based education, awareness of harms associated with narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, and information on counselling, recovery and treatment avenues. Activities include seminars, workshops, exhibitions, rallies, competitions and digital awareness initiatives, with focus on educational institutions, rural communities and youth. Activities remain voluntary, educational, inclusive and non-regulatory, and participating volunteers cannot perform enforcement, investigation or policing functions.

Entry 41 covers upfront consideration for leases of at least thirty years of industrial plots or financial-business infrastructure, subject to use for industrial or financial activity. For IT/ITeS leases in a State-declared industrial IT park, relevant considerations include the State industrial-area declaration, lease restrictions to IT/ITeS use, and limited ancillary commercial facilities. The absence of a CGST definition leaves the scope of industrial activity dependent on State classification, with uncertainty about broad non-industrial uses within declared areas.

The Index of Core Industries (ICI), using base year 2022-23, records a provisional overall index of 119.2 for August 2026, representing year-on-year growth of 4.8 per cent against August 2025. The July 2026 overall index has been finalised at 120.8 in place of its provisional value of 121.2, with the associated year-on-year growth revised from 5.4 per cent to 5.0 per cent. August 2026 data remain provisional.

Payment services in or from an IFSC require authorisation of an IFSC-incorporated company, subject to eligibility, fit-and-proper, financial-soundness, infrastructure, governance and user-protection assessment. Authorised providers must maintain prescribed net worth, appoint a nodal bank, commence operations within the permitted period, and notify material changes. They must safeguard applicable funds through segregated escrow or other permitted arrangements, comply with anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and know-your-customer requirements, protect information systems, give clear user disclosures, operate grievance mechanisms, and retain transaction and compliance records.