We have received a letter of credit, which calls for ‘full set of bill of lading made out to order and blank endorsed’. What does it mean?
Bills of Lading are issued in more than one original. ‘Full set of bill of lading’ means you have to present all the originals to the bank. ‘Made out to order and blank endorsed’ means that in the ‘consignee’ column, the bill of lading may mention ‘To order’ and on the reverse you may put your stamp and signature.
Do we have to fulfill any export obligation against the duty credits under the Status Holder Incentive Scheme (SHIS)? Can we import our raw materials or office equipment under the SHIS scrip?
The SHIS scrip is available at 1 per cent of the FOB value of exports in the years 2010-11 and 2011-12. As the duty credit scrip is available against export performance, there is no further export obligation. You can use the SHIS scrip to pay duty on capital goods related to any sector mentioned in Para 5.16.4 of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP).
We have purchased a DEPB (Duty Entitled Passbook), where the port of registration is written as Bangalore. But, we want to use the DEPB for import from Chennai. Can we do that?
You have to approach the Bangalore Customs and obtain a ‘Release Advice’, i.e., permission to use the scrip at Chennai. Based on the Release Advice, Chennai Customs can allow duty payment through the DEPB in question.
Can we supply to a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Indian rupees and discharge our export obligation against the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme?
You have to fulfill your export obligation against EPCG authorisation by exports (including supplies to SEZ) in respect of which you must realise payment in freely convertible currency. But, if you make deemed exports, you can get payment in Indian rupees and that can count towards discharge of the export obligation.
I am going abroad for the first time. While returning, up to what value can I bring in goods, without duty payment?
For Indians returning from Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar or China, the baggage allowance is Rs 3000 for stay abroad of less than three days, and Rs 6000 for a stay abroad more than three days. For other countries, the limit is Rs 12000 for a stay abroad of less than three days and Rs 25,000 for a stay abroad of more than three days.
Where two items of equipment are mentioned separately in the exemption notification, can we import a combination of the two and claim exemption, even if the combination is not mentioned separately in the notification?
Yes. In the case of Sanghi Synthetics Pvt. Ltd. [(82) ELT 238 (T)], the Tribunal held that a combination of the two machines does not turn out to be a third entity, since it performs the functions of both the items of equipment. CBEC Circular no. 45/98 dated 30th June 1998 accepts this position.