Amid faltering exports and tepid external demand, the Centre on Tuesday extended the tenure of the export-boosting scheme Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) for nine more months.
The scheme has now been extended until June 30 at the same rates for the existing export items. “This will help our exporting community to negotiate export contracts in the present international environment on better terms. The scheme is World Trade Organization (WTO)-compatible and is being implemented in an end-to-end IT environment,” the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.
The RoDTEP scheme, which refunds the embedded non-creditable central, state, and local levies paid on inputs to exporters, was due to expire on September 30. These taxes were not being refunded but were incurred by the export entities in the process of manufacture and distribution of exported products.
The scheme, notified on January 1, 2021, replaced the controversial Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) after a WTO ruling stated that it violated the provisions of the global trade body by providing export subsidies for a wide range of goods.
Between January 1, 2021, and March 31, 2023, Rs 27,018 crore was spent towards the scheme. During the current financial year, as much as Rs 15,070 crore has been allocated to support 10,610 product lines.
Review of rates
The commerce and industry ministry said a committee had again been constituted in the finance ministry’s revenue department to review and recommend the ceiling rates under the RoDTEP scheme for different export sectors.
Exporters have called for increasing the RoDTEP budget allocation and sought higher rates for all export items to help them secure greater market access abroad.
“The committee held its first interaction today (Tuesday) at Vanijya Bhawan in New Delhi with the Export Promotion Councils/Chamber of Commerce and discussed the methodology and other issues relating to the scheme and its implementation,” it said.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has urged the government that there shouldn’t be any end date to the scheme since RoDTEP is a duty neutralisation scheme, similar to duty drawback, which also offsets Customs duties.
“The RoDTEP scheme along with duty drawback or duty exemption scheme, together with the GST refund mechanism, provides zero rating of Indian exports. The scheme fits into the WTO discipline under the Agreement on Subsidy and Countervailing Measures. Therefore, the scheme should be applicable to all sectors of exports if having the incidence of unrebated taxes, and to all entities including those in EOU or SEZs, or holding advance authorisation, if having any incidence of unrebated taxes,” the FIEO said in its submission to the government.
