Fine print of mini EXIM Policy

The import of capital goods have been allowed under the duty free entitlement scheme. (The import of agriculture and dairy products and cars will not be permitted).

The duty free entitlement certificate scheme will be made available on achieving the minimum threshold limit in any one of preceding three years of the validity of the certificate.

CHARTERED ENGINEERS CERTIFICATE
Capital goods imports restriction
Capital goods imports have been allowed based on a chartered engineers certificate. The earlier requirement of an examination to be conducted by a committee will henceforth not be necessary.

EPCG LICENCES
Re-setting of export obligations
The government is re-setting export promotion credit guarantee (EPCG) licences on the principle of eight times the duty saved instead of 5 times the cost-insurance-freight value.

PORT HANDLING
Re payment at ports under EPCG
The commerce ministry will be looking at all rupee payments received for port handling services as export obligations under the Export Promotion Capital Goods scheme. The ceiling on export of gifts has been raised to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh per year.

IMPORTS FREED
Import curbs on gold, silver lifted
In the mini Exim Policy announced today, imports have been freed for gold, silver, global positioning system receivers, electrical energy and air guns, subject to conditions imposed by the ministry of home affairs.

TOURISM SECTOR
Duty free imports for tourism
Duty free imports have been allowed to the tourism sector and has been extended to cover heritage hotels, one and two star hotels and stand alone restaurants.

FUEL IMPORTS
DFRC licencs
Duty free fuel imports have been permitted with actual user conditions under the Duty Free Replenishment Certificate (DFRC) scheme. An advance licence for intermediate supplies has been allowed against DFRC schemes.

EXPORT OBLIGATION
Status-holder exporters to benefit
The export obligation period has been extended for status holder exporters involved in multi-location and multi- product exports. The revalidation facility has also been extended to those availing advance licence for annual requirements. The advance licence for annual requirements has also been extended for deemed exports and intermediate supplies. The payment of composition fee for extension of export obligations has also been reduced.

DEEMED EXPORTS
Extension for items with zero per cent custom-duty
Deemed export facility has been extended for items with 0 per cent basic customs duty. The facility has been extended to fertiliser and refinery projects that have spilled over from the eighth and ninth plan periods. Fixing of drawback brand rates for deemed exports have been decentralised and delegated to DGFT regional offices.

NON-TARIFF BARRIERS
Reclassification of food imports
The commerce ministry has re-classified non tariff barriers on imports of food and textile items for export production. The Bureau of India Standards quality certification scheme on imports has been amended for importers with captive consumption and in-house testing facilities.

FROM RS 500 TO RS 800 CRORE
Equity base of ECGC raised
The equity base of the export credit guarantee corporation (ECGC) has been raised to Rs 800 crore from Rs 500 crore. The national export insurance account for ECGC would be underwriting high value projects undertaken abroad. The Tenth Plan allocation of Rs 600 crore for underwriting is going to be raised to Rs 2000 crore.

PROCEDURAL SIMPLIFICATIONS
Series of measures brought in
The government has announced a series of procedural simplifications for exporters in order to reduce transaction costs and introduce transparency into the system. They include

• Digital signatures
• Electronic fund transfer
• Message exchange with community partners like customs and banks