FM announces sops to boost exports

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced measures related to exports.

1. The government extended the scheme of reimbursement of taxes & duties for export promotion.

- Scheme for Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Product (RoDTEP) will replace Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS).

- Existing dispensation in textiles of MEIS + Old Rebate of State Levies (RoSL) will continue up to 31 December 2019.

- Textiles and all other sectors which currently enjoy incentives upto 2% over MEIS will transit into RoDTEP from 1 January 2020.

- In effect, RoDTEP will more than adequately incentivize exporters than existing schemes put together.

 

- Revenue foregone projected at up to Rs 50,000 crore.

2. Fully automated electronic refund route for Input Tax Credits (ITC) in GST.

- Fully electronic refund module (FORM GSAT RFD-01) for quick and automated refund of ITC nearing completion and will be implemented by end September 2019.

- This is expected to monitor and speed up ITC refunds.

3. Expanding scope of Export Credit Insurance Scheme (ECIS) by Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC).

- Will offer higher insurance cover to banks lending working capital for exports.

- Premium incidence for MSMEs will be moderated suitably.

- It is expected that the initiative will cost about Rs 1700 cr per annum.

- This will enable reduction in overall cost of export credit including interest rates, especially to MSMEs.

4. Revised Priority Sector Lending (PSL) norms for export credit.

- Priority Sector Lending (PSL) norms for export credit have been examined and enabling guidelines are under consideration of RBI.

- This will release an additional Rs 36,000 crore to Rs 68,000 crore as export credit under priority sector.

5. Effective monitoring of Export Financing by Department of Commerce.

- Data on Export Finance is regularly published by RBI.

- Export Finance will be actively monitored by an Inter Ministerial Working Group in Department of Commerce, tracked through a dashboard, reviewed with institutions and active intervention carried out.

6. Leverage technology to reduce "Time to Export or Turn-around time".

- Technology will be further leveraged by timely completion of ongoing initiatives to further reduce "Time to export" - though seamless process digitization of all export clearances (port/airport/customs, etc) and elimination of offline/manual services.

- An action plan to reduce time to export/turn-around time in airports and ports benchmarked to international standards will be implemented by December 2019.

- Actual turnaround times will be published in real time for each port and airport to push them to improve performance.

- An inter-ministerial group will be made accountable for this.

7. Annual mega shopping festivals.

Annual mega shopping festivals in India will be organized in 4 places across 2020 March in 4 themes (G&J, handicrafts/yoga/tourism, textiles and leather).

8. Special Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Utilisation Mission.

- FTA Utilisation Mission, headed by a Senior officer in Department of Commerce, will be set up.

- To work exclusively with Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) and export houses to utilise concessional tariffs in each FTA.

- Enhance awareness of preferential duty benefits among Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), disseminate and facilitate compliance requirements (Rules of Origin/ Certificate of Origin, etc.) under FTAs for importers and exporters.

- Set goals for FTA utilization and put in place an effective FTA monitoring system.

9. Online "Origin Management System".

- An Online "Origin Management System" for exporters to enable them to obtain Certificates of Origin COO (under Rules of Origin) will be launched in the next few weeks by DGFT in collaboration with Exports Inspection Council.

- This is expected to significantly improve ease of doing business for exporters.

10. Time bound adoption of mandatory technical standards.

- Time bound adoption by Industry of all necessary mandatory technical standards and their effective enforcement to elevate the quality and performance ecosystem, enhance competitiveness and address the issue of sub-standard imports.

- A working group on standards will be set up in D/o commerce to work with industry to lay down a roadmap for adoption of standards, time lines and enforcement.

- This is expected to be a big boost in enabling Indian products overcome non-tariff barriers in exports.

11. Affordable testing and certification infrastructure.

- Affordable testing and certification infrastructure will be adequately expanded and developed in PPP mode to enable exporters to get all internationally accepted tests and certification done within India.

- This will reduce costs of adoption of standards and certification for Indian exporters to meet national standards of FTA partners.

12. Enable handicrafts industry to effectively harness e-commerce for exports.

- Special dispensation for facilitating and gn-boarding handicrafts artisans and handicraft cooperatives directly on e-commerce portals and enable seamless exports.

- Mass enrolment of artisans across India with help of M/o Textile and organisations like The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), CIE, etc.

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