The popular export benefit scheme, Remission of Duty and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP), that was notified for certain sectors till September 30 2023, is now being extended by nine months till June 30 2024, per a government statement.

“This will help our exporting community to negotiate export contracts in the present international environment on better terms. The scheme is WTO compatible and is being implemented in an end-to-end IT environment,” a release issued by the Commerce & Industry Ministry, on Tuesday, pointed out.  The scheme is being extended at the same rates to the existing export items, it added.

The RoDTEP scheme refunds embedded duties/taxes, such as VAT on fuel used in transportation, mandi tax and duty on electricity used during manufacturing, that are not rebated under other schemes. Announced in January 2021, as a replacement for the WTO-incompatible MEIS scheme, the scheme covered 8,731 items from most export sectors with the exception of organic and inorganic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and iron & steel.

Later the government decided to extend the benefits also to the three excluded sectors, but just for a period of nine months till September 30 2023, which has now been further extended by nine months. In another development, in line with the scheme framework, the RoDTEP Committee has again been constituted in the Department of Revenue to review and recommend the ceiling rates under the RoDTEP Scheme for different export sectors, the statement noted. 

“The Committee held its first interaction today at Vanijya Bhawan in New Delhi with the Export Promotion Councils/Chamber of Commerce and discussed the methodology and other issues relating to the Scheme and its implementation. The EPCs in their observations emphasised the need for enhancing the RoDTEP budget allocation and for higher rates to be made available to all export items to help them secure greater market access abroad,” the release said.

Under RoDTEP, a support of ₹27,018 crores has been extended for the 27 month period till March 31 2023. The RoDTEP scheme operates under a budgetary framework and for FY 23-24, a budget of ₹15,070 crore is available to support 10,610 items (HS lines) at the 8 digit level.