RoDTEP scheme: Rs 12,454-cr outlay; metal, pharma disregarded

IN A transfer geared toward boosting exports, the Commerce Ministry on Tuesday notified remission charges beneath the Rs 12,454-crore Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) incentive scheme for 8,555 merchandise, with charges starting from 0.3 per cent to 4.3 per cent.
The scheme is geared toward refunding exporters, the duties, taxes, and levies paid by them on the Central, state, and native ranges.
The RoDTEP scheme “roughly covers two-thirds, 65 per cent of the exports of the country,” stated Commerce Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, including the charges could be reimbursed on the idea of a share worth of the free on board (FoB) worth of the objects exported. He added there would, nonetheless, be “standard rates” for sure objects, which might cap the remissions per unit to stop any “fudging.”

Subrahmanyam famous that the RoDTEP scheme, together with RoSCTL (Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies) for clothes and textiles, would cowl about 95 per cent of product traces and the same share of India’s complete exports. He stated the entire provision for responsibility remissions beneath the 2 schemes was about Rs 19,400 crore.
He went on so as to add that the exports of sure merchandise, together with metal, prescription drugs and chemical substances, wouldn’t be eligible to obtain refunds beneath the scheme as they’ve “done very well for themselves” with out incentives since RoDTEP was geared toward focusing on exports the place help was required.
The Secretary stated the scheme was dynamic and could be reviewed usually and may result in some merchandise being added or eliminated as required. He added further funds could be made accessible for the 2 schemes over the Rs 19,400 crore accessible for FY21-22 on a professional rata foundation for the primary three months of this calendar yr. The RoDTEP scheme replaces the MEIS (Merchandise Exports for India Scheme) incentive scheme for exporters that Subrahmanyam famous was “technically not legal” beneath WTO norms, including the brand new scheme was compliant with WTO norms because it was designed with the objective that taxes borne by exporters shouldn’t be exported.
When requested in regards to the smaller allocation to the brand new schemes, in comparison with MEIS that had a Budget allocation of Rs 39,097 crore for FY20, he stated RoDTEP would carry out a lot better than some other scheme prior to now.
Subrahmanyam had stated in an occasion final week that it was a matter of concern that the withdrawals from export schemes had tripled over the previous 5 years, with exports remaining comparatively fixed. “RoDTEP scrips… are going to be tradable, transferable, can be used for payments on multiple fronts. So to that extent, a RoDTEP script is a cash in somebody’s pockets,” he stated.

On the pending incentive payouts to exporters, beneath MEIS in addition to SEIS for the service sector, Subrahmanyam stated: “It is a pretty large amount…we are working very closely with the Finance Ministry… By the first week of September, we will come out with a solution to both the arrears of MEIS and SEIS.” He added pending funds would in all probability be staggered.