New Delhi, Aug 19 (Mayank Nigam) The government is ready to review rates under Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme to correct possible anomalies. It will also look into the merits of demand by steel, pharma and chemicals sectors which were excluded from the export promotion scheme due to paucity of funds. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that some sectors had not been included in the RoDTEP scheme due to lack of adequate budget. “But we have an open mind.
Any particular industry which feels that there is an anomaly in the working or an anomaly in the costing or workings of the committee or you feel your sector which is not covered is uncompetitive without that please do write in to us,” Goyal said while addressing the exporting community in Mumbai. He noted that RoDTEP rates were determined by an independent committee which worked with the industry, took the inputs from the industry and worked out the rates. The Minister said that he had asked Finance Ministry to reconstitute another committee either headed by Mr (GK) Pillai or anybody else to look at any anomaly.
“We will be happy to get it examined. But for the current year there may be certain constraints. Going forward, we can look at whether there is any mistake that has crept into it. We will be open to re-looking at them,” said Goyal. The Centre on Tuesday announced the much-awaited tax refund rates under RoDTEP covering 8,555 tariff lines. The reimbursement rate of taxes and duties on eligible export items vary from 0.01% to 4.3% of Free on Board (FOB) value. Sectors such as steel, pharma and chemicals are out of the RoDTEP scheme. Commerce and Industry Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam had on Wednesday said that these sectors were kept out as they were doing well on their own and did not need government support. Steel, engineering goods and other sectors have complained of lower RoDTEP rates and requested the government to review them to ensure taxes in the export production chain are fully reimbursed.
EEPC India Chairman Mahesh Desai said that RoDTEP rates have not taken into account the taxes embedded in raw materials like steel in the engineering products in a large number of cases. “MSMEs exporters like those in castings, fasteners, flanges etc. have not been considered for RODTEP which is deeply disappointing,” he said. Jindal Stainless MD Abhyuday Jindal hailed the export boosting scheme but hoped that the steel industry would be included in the RoDTEP list. “It’s a much required move to fulfil this government’s vision of ‘Made in India; made for the world.” he said. Under RoDTEP, the government has kept a total budget of Rs 12,454 crore for FY22.