# Can Your Stock and Sale Shipment Still Use the Old HBP Route After DGFT's Draft Amendment? *DGFT's draft amendment to Paragraph 10.10 of HBP 2023 may reset the rules for SCOMET Stock and Sale authorisations. Exporters need to know if existing shipments can still use the old route.* - Canonical: https://eximlabh.io/newsletter/can-your-stock-and-sale-shipment-still-use-the-old-hbp-route-after-dgft-s-draft- - Markdown: https://eximlabh.io/newsletter/can-your-stock-and-sale-shipment-still-use-the-old-hbp-route-after-dgft-s-draft-.md - Published: 2026-10-07T00:00:00.000Z - Tag: DGFT - Author: EximLabh AI ## The question Can an importer still use the older first-come, first-served or pro-rata route for gold bullion under tariff head 7108 of the India-UAE CEPA, or is the second-round TRQ window for FY 2025-26 now locked into the tender mechanism? ## What changed DGFT has opened a second-round allocation window for the Tariff Rate Quota on gold bullion under India-UAE CEPA for FY 2025-26. Public Notice No. 45/2025-26, dated 23 January 2026, sets out the procedure. The short answer for anyone hoping to fall back on the older allocation route: no. The second round continues the competitive bidding process that Public Notice No. 39/2025-26 introduced for the first round in December 2025, and that Trade Notice No. 16/2025-26 first signalled in October 2025. The older first-come, first-served or pro-rata route that some importers remember from earlier CEPA years is not coming back for this financial year. The second round is a tender-based allocation of the residual or unallocated quantity, not a return to the earlier mechanism. ## Who this hits Any importer holding a valid Importer-Exporter Code who wants to bring UAE-origin gold bullion into India at the preferential CEPA rate rather than the standard MFN duty. That includes nominated agencies, banks, and private bullion importers who either participated in the first round or missed it entirely. Exporters are affected only indirectly, if they sit in a group that also imports gold for onward supply or manufacturing. The TRQ itself is an import-side instrument. ## The compliance trap most importers miss A DGFT TRQ allocation is not a customs clearance. It is a licensing step. The actual preferential duty claim at the border is administered by Customs under CAROTAR 2020, and the importer must still establish that the gold satisfies the CEPA origin rules for heading 7108. Those rules require a change in tariff subheading plus a value-addition threshold under the product-specific rules in the CEPA text. If the origin certificate is defective or the goods fail origin verification, Customs can deny the preferential rate even though the DGFT TRQ authorisation is valid. Do not assume the allocation alone gets you the lower duty. ## Timing and cost traps Two further points need attention. First, timing. The second-round window under PN 45 is for FY 2025-26. But two later extension notices, Public Notice No. 53/2025-26 (24 March 2026) and Public Notice No. 18/2026-27 (1 July 2026), extended the validity of TRQ authorisations issued in FY 2025-26, first to 30 June 2026 and then to 30 September 2026. An importer who obtains a second-round allocation should check whether the authorisation validity aligns with those extensions, and should not assume the original FY-end deadline still applies. Second, cost. Since allocation is now by competitive bidding, the price paid for the TRQ entitlement is a separate cost from the customs duty. Importers who modelled their landed cost on the older pro-rata or first-come route may find the effective cost higher once the bid premium is factored in. The corpus does not state the bid premium or floor price for the second round, so this must be confirmed against PN 45 itself. ## What to confirm before you bid - The exact residual quantity available in the second round under PN 45. Not stated in the corpus. Confirm against the primary instrument. - The product-specific rule for heading 7108 under India-UAE CEPA, specifically the value-addition percentage. Confirm against the CEPA Annex on product-specific rules. - The notified BCD for the exact 8-digit tariff item under 7108 (for example 7108 11 00, 7108 12 00, 7108 13 00). The corpus shows a heading-level rate of 12.5% for 7108 11 00, but the exact line must be verified against the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act. - Whether the second-round allocation under PN 45 is open to new applicants or only to those who participated in the first round. Not clear from the corpus. Confirm against PN 45. ## Operator note for first-round holders Importers who received a first-round allocation and still hold an unutilised TRQ authorisation should check the interaction between PN 45's second-round window and the extension notices. If the extension applies to authorisations issued in either round, there may be no need to re-bid in the second round for the same quantity. But if the extension applies only to first-round authorisations, a second-round bid may be the only way to secure additional quota. This is a document-review step, not a portal procedure. ## Primary sources - Public Notice No. 45/2025-26, dated 23 January 2026 - Public Notice No. 39/2025-26, dated 17 December 2025 - Trade Notice No. 16/2025-26, dated 29 October 2025 - Public Notice No. 31/2025-26 - Foreign Trade Policy 2023, paragraphs 1.03 and 2.04 - Annexure-IV of Appendix-2A, FTP/Handbook - CAROTAR 2020, Notification 81/2020-Cus (N.T.) ## Confidence Verified: the second round under PN 45 continues the tender-based mechanism; the older first-come or pro-rata route is not available for FY 2025-26. Verified: DGFT allocation is separate from CAROTAR origin verification at the border. Needs confirmation: residual quantity, product-specific rule value-addition percentage, exact BCD line, and whether new applicants can enter the second round. DGFT TRQ allocation, India-UAE CEPA gold import, tariff head 7108, CAROTAR origin verification, competitive bidding TRQ. --- Source: The EximLabh Brief. Citation-backed trade notes, not legal advice.