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The Ministry of Finance in the press conference held on 14 September 2019 had announced the rollout of Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (‘RoDTEP’) scheme replacing the existing MEIS scheme.
The Ministry of Finance had issued a Press Release dated 31 December 2020 extending the benefit of RoDTEP to all exports made w.e.f. 1 January 2021.
The Ministry of Commerce has notified the RoDTEP Scheme by Notification No. 19/2015-20, dated 17 August 2021.
Simultaneously, the DGFT has also notified the rates by way of a public notice. The rates are mentioned in the Appendix 4R of the HBP, covering the eligible export goods, rates and per unit, value caps, wherever applicable.
The rates notified are specific (for few commodities) as well as ad valorem (for majority of goods). The ad valorem rates are computed on the FOB value of exports.
The rates are applicable for the exports already made under the Scheme from 1 January 2021.
It may be noted that overall budget/ outlay for RoDTEP benefit would be finalised by the Ministry of Finance in consultation with the Department of Commerce.
Further, residual issues related to the Scheme arising subsequently would be considered by the RoDTEP Policy Committee. The RoDTEP Committee will be chaired by the DGFT, whose decisions will be binding.
RoDTEP Scheme and its benefits
RoDTEP Scheme is an export remission scheme under which various unrefunded central, state and local duties, taxes and levies borne on the exported products including taxes paid on inputs which are used in the manufacture of exported products, would be refunded to exporters.
Rebate under the RoDTEP Scheme will not be available in respect of duties and taxes already exempted or remitted or credited.
The rebate under the scheme will be available to eligible exporters at a notified rate on the export of product under notified 8-digit HS code, as a percentage of FOB value or specific rate, as specified in Appendix-4R.
The rates for refund have been notified for a total of 8555 export items under Appendix 4R, which ranges from 0.01% to 4.3%. Rebate for certain export products will also be subject to value cap per unit of the exported product.
Rebate amount will be issued in the form of a transferable duty credit/electronic scrip (e-scrip) which will be maintained in an electronic ledger by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (‘CBIC’).
The e-scrips would be used only for payment of Basic Customs Duty and not for payment of IGST, Compensation Cess.
Eligible
Every exporter exporting items covered under Appendix 4R will be eligible to avail the benefit of RoDTEP Scheme subject to satisfying conditions as specified.
Not eligible
Exports through trans-shipment;
Export products which are subject to minimum export price/duty;
Restricted and prohibited goods;
Deemed exports;
Supplies of goods manufactured by DTA units to SEZ/FTWZ units;
Products manufactured in Electronics Hardware Technology Park (‘EHTP’) and Bio-Technology Part (‘BTP’);
Products manufactured or exported under the Advance Authorization or Duty- Free Import Authorization scheme;
Products manufactured or exported from 100% EOU; and
Products manufactured or exported by SEZ/FTWZ units.
However, the implementation date for inclusion of exports made by the following categories will be notified at a later date as per the recommendations of the RoDTEP Committee:
Products manufactured or exported under the Advance Authorisation or Duty- Free Import Authorization scheme;
Products manufactured or exported from 100% EOU; and
Products manufactured or exported by SEZ/FTWZ units.
Further, it seems that benefit under the RoDTEP Scheme would not be available to three sectors namely, iron & steel, chemicals and pharmaceuticals as export of these items are not covered under Appendix 4R.
It may be noted that the Central Government has power to modify any of the categories for inclusion or exclusion under the ambit of the RoDTEP Scheme.
Legal procedures and penalty provisions
The remission allowed under the scheme is subject to receipt of sale proceeds within time allowed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. However, the remission would not be dependent on the realization of export proceeds at the time of issue of rebate.
Necessary rules and procedure regarding grant of refund under the scheme and other implementation issues would be notified by the CBIC on an IT enabled platform.
Provisions for recovery of rebate amount where foreign exchange is not realized, suspension/withholding of RoDTEP in case of frauds and misuse, as well as imposition of penalty will also be notified by the CBIC.
