The commerce ministry has decided to extend export benefits under the RoDTEP scheme for companies in the special economic zones (SEZs) and export-oriented units (EOUs).

This decision was communicated to the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on February 16. The DGFT may issue a formal notification soon amending the foreign trade policy on the same.

“Post rolling out of ICEGATE (Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange Gateway) in SEZs, the RoDTEP scheme may also be extended to SEZs,” according to an office memorandum of the commerce ministry.

The government in August 2021, announced the rates of tax refunds under the export promotion scheme — Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP), for 8,555 products such as marine goods, yarn and dairy items.

As SEZs and EOUs were kept out of the scheme in the list notified at that time, the industry was demanding to include them in the scheme.

Under RoDTEP, various central and state duties, taxes and levies imposed on input products, among others, are refunded to exporters. The current RoDTEP rates are in the range of 0.3 per cent to 4.3 per cent.

ICEGATE is the national portal of Indian Customs of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) that provides e-filing services to the trade, cargo carriers and other trading partners electronically.

PTI