The world and India is currently facing a challenging situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Government is rising up to the challenge to meet the requirement of society and industry said Mr Amit Yadav, Director General of Foreign Trade, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. He was speaking at a Digital Conference on Exports organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) today.
He said that the DGFT has organized various interactions during the course of the lockdown and have addressed the issues and concerns of Industry. He mentioned that during the current lockdown and even before a number of initiatives have been taken up to address the issues faced by the industry. The officials from all parts of India has worked round the clock for the same, he said. He highlighted that extension of the existing Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) by a year would help the exporters.
He added that the Government is currently working on the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme and has urged industry to come forward with their inputs so as to finalise the same in the next few months. With respect to the renewal and increase in the rates of the interest equalisation scheme, he mentioned that the DGFT is working with the Ministry of Finance, Government of India on this and will come up with a solution to this very soon.
The industry came up with the following issues and recommendations to boost exports for the consideration of the Government
One, the Interest Subvention scheme of 5% should be reinstated and extended to all exporters and also an additional export rebate of around 5 percent would help boosting exports.
Two, Transportation fuel sector has been one of the most impacted sectors during the lockdowns forced the world over. In these difficult times, the Indian exporters are handicapped by the incidence of National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD), which is not rebated or exempted on exports. Government should exempt NCCD also on import of inputs made under Advance Authorization.
Three, many enterprises have imported machinery for production units against Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) license. In the post Covid-19 scenario their commissioning may get delayed, market of product might get affected, buying power of target customers also might have changed. In these situations, the importer may require more time to fulfil the export obligation, so time given for fulfilling export obligation should be further extended.
Four, the import licenses for Calcined Petroleum Coke (CP Coke) for Financial Year 2020-21 are yet to be issued by DGFT and hence DGFT is requested to issue fresh import licenses for Financial Year 2020-21 or may extend the previous import licenses issued for Financial Year 2019-20, expired in March, 2020, till the fresh licenses are issued.
Five, expedite formulation of RoDTEP Scheme (Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products) with priority for Aluminum industry to boost exports with adequate remission of unrebated Central & State duties & taxes which constitutes around 15-17% of Aluminium production cost.
Six, in case of domestic sourcing of Capital Goods etc. under EPCG Scheme, prescribed Letter of Undertaking (LUT) may not be insisted upon as arrangements for Stamp Paper / Company’s Seal / Director Signature are difficult in the current situation. Instead, a simple declaration from the applicant may be accepted and submission of LUT in due course of time should be allowed. Similar reliefs have already been allowed by the Ministry of Finance as clarified vide Circular No. 137/07/2020-GST dated 13th April 2020 in respect of submission of LUT's for the financial year 2020-21, with effect from April 2020, which are required to be submitted prior to effecting exports.
Seven, the application fees EPCG authorisations or any other authorisation should be waived as employees are working from home and have no access to the banking system of the company for arranging payment of fees.
Eight, on account of extended lockdown period- immediate requirement is to allow import duty deferment by minimum 45 days from IGM date (all shipments arriving after 14th April 2020) to support working capital issues of all those importing processed food and packing material for processed food.
Nine, Industry is expecting some potential unrecoverable debts because of this unexpected Corona Pandemic and hence request a lenient stand on claim admission and speedy disposal by ECGC.
Ten, Export Obligation fulfilment period should be extended by additional one year for all active advance authorization AAL / EPCG issued before 31st March 2020.
The digital conference saw participation of industry representatives in large numbers from all parts of the country and the platform helped industry to raise some of the important issues of all exporters across all sectors such as the interest equalization scheme, MEIS benefits, duty drawback and administrative procedures and also some of the sector specific issues.
New Delhi
17 April 2020