Govt may stop sops for services exports

Mistry moves SC; says deserved more relief

Less than a month after the Supreme Court stayed an order reinstating him as Tata Sons chairman, Cyrus Mistry has moved the apex court seeking removal of many anomalies in the NCLAT order, saying his family deserved more relief from the tribunal. Mistry has filed a cross appeal in the court. In the petition, Mistry has described the group's relationship with Tatas as "a quasi-partnership relationship.”

The government is mulling discontinuation of export incentives under a particular scheme to the services sector. The government move came after a review which showed that the incentive scheme has not helped India increase shipments positively.

“So, I am proposing that from the earliest opportunity, we should discontinue this Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) in its current form. It has not helped us to increase our exports positively. The industry has to get out of the mindset of subsidies as they are detrimental to India’s long-term interests,” commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal told the media at an event here.

Generally, the foreign trade policy provides tax incentives under the SEIS scheme to several services industries. Depending on the nature of services, the government gives duty credit scrips, or certificates. The scheme offers reward at 5 per cent or 7 per cent of net foreign exchange earned.

Citing an example, the minister, however, said, “We now give subsidies on services exports. I have gone through the list in great details, barely 2,200 companies take that subsidy. Some of them are such large names, making thousands of crores of rupees of profit.”