Govt to settle claims of over 45K exporters

NEW DELHI: The government has decided to release pending claims worth ₹56,027 crore in FY22 for merchandise and service exports under various export promotion schemes. The move is expected to benefit more than 45,000 exporters, of which about 98% are of the micro, small, and medium enterprise category.

A decision to clear all pending export incentives in this financial year, despite other budgetary commitments arising out of the pandemic, was taken with the aim of providing timely and crucial support to this vital pillar of the economy, the commerce ministry said. The government has set a target of achieving $400 billion merchandise exports in FY22 amid growing demand for Indian goods in developed countries.

“The last one-and-a-half years have been quite stressful because of Covid. Revenues have also been stressed and there was a concern about large amounts due to our exporters under various schemes that had not been cleared during the covid period. This will come as a very big relief in almost all sectors. It will have a transformational impact on exporters’ cash flow,” trade minister Piyush Goyal told reporters.

The amount includes claims relating to the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), the Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS), Rebate of State Levies (RoSL), Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL), and other scrip-based schemes relating to policies. This also includes support for Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) and RoSCTL for exports made in the March quarter of FY21.

MEIS has the largest claim of ₹33,010 crore, followed by SEIS, ₹10,002 crore, RoSCTL, ₹5,286 crore, RoDTEP, ₹2,568 crore, RoSL, ₹330 crore, and other legacy schemes such as Target Plus, ₹4,831 crore.