• DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF FOREIGN TRADE

Policy Circular No. 30(RE-08)/2004-2009 Dated 29.08.2008- Jurisdiction of RA in case of issuance of IEC to proprietorship firms

It has been clarified by the DGFT that a proprietorship firm has to apply to the RA under whose jurisdiction the office of the firm is located for grant of IEC, while replying to the representations received by the proprietorship firms regarding submission of the IEC application.

• INDIRECT TAXATION

Customs

CBEC Customs Notification No. 101/2008 Dated 02.09.2008 - Exemption to Specified goods from the whole of the duty of customs and additional duty of customs leviable thereon under Customs Tariff Act

Central government exempts Specified goods, imported into India for the purpose of donation for the rehabilitation and relief of the people affected by the floods in the State of Bihar from the whole of the duty of customs and additional duty of customs leviable thereon under Customs Tariff Act ,in exercise of the powers conferred by the section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962.

CBEC Customs Notification No. 100/2008 Dated 29.08.2008 - Amendment to the Notification No. 101/2004- CUSTOMS dated the 29th September, 2004

Central government extends anti-dumping duty on Sun and/or Dust Control Polyester Film, originating in, or exported from Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) and United Arab Emirates (UAE), for the period of one year from the date of its expiry, in terms of section 9A(5) of the said Customs Tariff Act.

CBEC Customs Circular No. 13/2008 Dated 29.08.2008 -All Industry Rates of Duty Drawback, 2008-09 - Reg

Revised All Industry Rates of Duty Drawback, effective from 01.09.2008 has been announced by the ministry. The Drawback Schedule includes several new items determining drawback rates on the basis of certain broad factors and it has undergone changes in consonance with the changes in prices of inputs, duties etc. resulting in decrease in drawback rates in most cases. Circular discusses in details changes bought by the revised duty drawback rates.

CBEC Customs Non-Tariff Notification No. 103/2008-Customs (N.T.) -Dated 29.08.2008 -Central Government determines rates of drawback in suppressions of the Notification No.68/2007-Customs (N.T.), dated the 16th July, 2007

In supersession of the notification No.68/2007-Customs (N.T.), dated the 16th July, 2007 Central Government determines All industry rates of duty drawback , 2008- 09 in exercise of the power conferred by the section 75(2) of the Customs Act. These rates of drawback are subject to conditions provided therein.

Excise

CBEC Excise Notification No. 48/2008 Dated 02.09.2008 - Exemption to the Specified goods from the duty of excise leviable under Central Excise Tariff Act

Central government exempts Specified goods from the duty of excise leviable under Central Excise Tariff Act, if such goods are donated or purchased out of cash donations made for the purpose of rehabilitation and relief of the people affected by the floods in the State of Bihar. To claim exemption from duty of excise , claimant has to satisfy the certain conditions provided thereon.

Service Tax

Notification No. 31/2008-ST Dated02.09.2008 -Service Tax (Third Amendment) Rules, 2008

Form ST-3 stand amended vide Service Tax (Third Amendment) Rules, 2008, wherein, Central Government in exercise of the power vested in it by the section 94 of the Finance Act, 1994 amends Service Tax Rules, 1994 and insert various entries, including entries relating to Amount of service tax paid in advance under sub-rule (1A) of rule 6 and Amount payable under rule 6 (3) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004.

• SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA

Press Release No. PR No.165/2008 Dated 04.09.2008 -SEBI amends Equity Listing Agreement

Equity Listing Agreement has been amended by the Securities and Exchange Board of India vide circular dated September 4, 2008. Impact of the Amendment can be observed on the provisions relating to Fairness Opinion" of independent merchant banker and Submission & Publication of Financial Results.

It is made mandatory for the Listed/ unlisted company getting merged to appoint an independent merchant banker to give fair opinion on the valuation done by valuers and this "Fairness opinion" is required to be made available to the shareholders at the time of approval of the resolution. At the same time amendments have been made to the provisions relating to timeline for submitting consolidated financial results to the stock exchange, publication thereof.

Circular No. SEBI/CFD/DIL/DIP/32/2008/28/08 Dated 28.08.2008 - Amendments to SEBI (Disclosure and Investor Protection) Guidelines, 2000

Disclosure and Investor Protection (DIP) guidelines has been amended by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, As result of which, pricing and eligibility provisions for Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP) stands modified and the timelines involved in rights issue process has been reduced.

The Amendments endeavor to exclude sub-accounts in the category of "foreign corporate" and "foreign individuals" from QIB category and alter pricing provisions with regard to preferential allotment to Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs). Filing of draft offer documents of issue size up to Rs.50 crore with SEBI Regional Offices has been allowed by way of amendment.

Circular No. SEBI/CFD/MB/IS/3/2008/29/08 Dated 29.08.2008 - Effective date of ASBA Process and clarification on clause 2.8 of SEBI (Disclosure and Investor Protection (DIP)) Guidelines, 2000

All merchant bankers have been informed by the SEBI that Additional mode of payment through Applications Supported by Blocked Amount shall come into effect from the date of issuance this circular and recognizes few eligible banks as Self Certified Syndicate Banks (SCSBs).

It is clarified by the SEBI that debt funding from financial institutions/ banks will be considered as "firm arrangement of finance", only if the financial institutions/ banks extending the debt funding have given final sanction letters in this regard to the issuer company and lays down the conditions that are to be satisfied, in order to comply with the clause 2.8 of the guideline.

• TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA

Press Release No. 75/2008 Dated 01.09.2008- TRAI announces further measures to improve transparency in tariff offers and to protect the interests of consumers

TRAI has issued Telecommunication Tariff (Forty-eighth Amendment) Order, 2008 and a direction to all Access Service Providers regarding transparency in tariff offers.

Directions issued by the Authority mandates regulatory measures to advance transparency in tariff offers in access service, as result of which on talk time recharges subscribers will get full talk time , except specified administrative fee and benefit of tariff reduction will go directly to the subscribers without preconditions. By virtue of these directions Lifetime customers can mitigate to lifetime plan without making any additional charges and they are not required to recharge for more than six months to stay connected.

These new measures are made applicable for all new and existing subscribers and will come into effect from 15th September 2008.

• RESERVE BANK OF INDIA

Circular No. A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 15 Dated 08.09.2008 - Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 -Advance Remittances for Import of Services

Reserve Bank of India has decided to elevate the limit to USD 500,000 or its equivalent from USD 100,000 for all admissible current account transactions for import of services without bank guarantee, while liberalizing the procedure. AD Category - I banks are directed to make sure that the beneficiary of the advance remittance fulfils his obligation provided under the contract or agreement with the remitter in India, amount should be repatriated to India in case of failure.

Circular No. A. P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 14 Dated 05.09.2008 - Overseas Investment - Rationalisation

In order to simplify the procedure, RBI has decided that share certificates or any other document as an evidence of investment in the foreign entity are not supposed to be submitted to the Reserve Bank. It is made obligatory for the AD Category - I bank to keep an eye on the receipt of such documents and satisfy themselves about the bonafides of the documents so received, After being satisfied a certificate to this effect should be submitted to the Reserve Bank along with the APR (Part III of Form ODI).

RBI DBOD Circular No. DBOD.No. Rajbhasha BC. 39 /06.11.04/2008-09 Dated 01.09.2008 -Orders of the President of India on the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language in the 8th volume of its Report

The Honourable President of India has passed order on the official language of the banks, directing public sector banks to get work of data processing done either in bilingual form or in Hindi and only standard encoding (Unicode font/software) should be used for Hindi. ATM, Credit card etc services provided by the public sector banks are supposed to be in Hindi or in bilingual form.

Press Release No. 2008-2009/293 Dated 05.09.2008 -RBI expands coverage of its "Database on Indian Economy (DBIE)" and Change in URL for Accessing DBIE site

The coverage of the 'Database on Indian Economy', an on-line database built on the data warehousing technology with enhanced functionality has been enhanced by the RBI and coverage will now include more static reports on outstanding bank credit (according to place of sanction and disbursement), India's external debt, ownership details of Government of India Securities, performance of private corporate business sector, forex rates and assets management.

Press Release No. 2008-2009/273 Dated 01.09.2008 - Payment and Settlement Systems Act, and Regulations come into effect

The Payment and Settlement Systems Act makes it mandatory to obtain authorisation from Reserve Bank to commence or operate a payment system, As a result of which all persons currently operating a payment system or keen to set up a payment system are required to apply for authorisation to the Reserve Bank, unless expressly exempted in terms of the Act. Payment systems existing now are supposed to obtain authourisation with in six months commencing from 12th August, 2008 and in case of failure they will cease to have the right to carry on their operations.

• PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU

Dated 08.09.2008 - Guidelines for Provisioning of Internet Protocol Television Services Issued

In pursuance of Union Cabinet's decision Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has issued guidelines for provisioning of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Services in India. IPTV is a system where a digital television service is delivered using the Internet Protocol over a network infrastructure and it would facilitate delivery of television content to the viewer through the technologies used for computer network instead of traditional format and cabling.

These guidelines deals with regulatory provisions and licensing requirements and other related issues to bring clarity on various platforms capable of providing IPTV services and encouraging stakeholders to launch IPTV.

Dated 01.09.2008 - Amendment in Excise Duty Exemption for SSI Units Notified

Central Board of Excise and Customs amends the provisions relating to exemption to the Small Scale industry vide notification no. 47/2008-Central Excise. It provides that if brand name or trade name of another person is in nature of specified packing materials, then such goods bearing the brand name or trade name of another person can claim exemption from the excise duty. The amendment will be effective from 1st of September, 2008 and available on a turnover of not exceeding Rs. 90 lakh in the remaining part of this financial year.