Page 3 - Exim Matters

Uncertain liberalising in a changing world

Exports are going down for the past 18 months and, despite imports also going down, the number of protectionist measures like anti-dumping duties, safeguard duties, etc, have gone up

Updating some earlier schemes

CBEC has decided to merge the Accredited Clients Programme and Authorised Economic Operator scheme into a new 3-tier programme

Indirect tax row needs resolution

In his Budget speech, the finance minister had said, "Litigation is a scourge for a tax-friendly regime and creates an environment of distrust, in addition to increasing the compliance cost on taxpayers and administrative cost for the government. There are about 300,000 tax cases pending with the 1st Appellate Authority, the disputed amount being Rs 5.5 lakh crore. To reduce this number, I propose a new Dispute Resolution Scheme."Accordingly, Chapter XI of the Finance Bill proposed an Indirect Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme, taking effect on June 1.The ministry notified the necessary Rules, prescribing the forms and procedures; the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has issued the necessary instructions for implementation.The scheme is applicable for all orders in respect of any of the provisions of the Customs Act, Central Excise Act or Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994 (dealing with service tax), which were under challenge before the commissioner (appeals) as on March 1, 2016

Some rules change at bonded warehouses

Sensitive goods will only be allowed to be brought into or taken out of a special warehouse with the permission and in the presence of the bond officers

This minister hasn't been up to the job

The test of good governance is whether exporters perceive a proper difference while receiving govt services at the operating levels

A halfway house is better than none

From May 4, the benefits are allowed for export to all countries, and landing certificates will not be required for claiming the MEIS duty credits. This will significantly save on costs

An idea whose time has come

In the last week of April, employees of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and its regional offices observed two days as 'black days' and a one-day 'pen down strike'. They put up notices that they were protesting against the government's decision to transfer the work of DGFT to the Customs department.The first suggestions to administer export promotion schemes through the excise and customs departments were made almost two decades earlier, when the government notified the Customs (Import of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty for Manufacture of Excisable Goods) Rules, 1996. These required the excise department to verify the genuineness of a party's request, get a bond to secure the duty amount and issue a procurement certificate. The role of Customs was limited to releasing the goods at concessional import duty against the procurement certificate. The task of monitoring the end-use of goods and discharge of bond was left to the excise department.Recently, the 1996 Rules wer

Cold comfort for exporters

Many exporters doing projects abroad find the retention money comes in quite late

What RBI could do to help exporters

Last week, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy report said global economic activity had slackened further and international trade remains subdued, while downside risks had increased. Weak demand and soft commodity prices have rekindled fear of deflation in some key advanced economies, prompting renewed divergence in monetary policy stances. With fragile domestic fundamentals, emerging market economies remain vulnerable to swings in market sentiment and capital outflow, said the report.However, RBI took no specific steps to help exporters in such a difficult situation. Perhaps it feels enough has been done already by extending the interest equalisation scheme on pre-shipment and post-shipment rupee export credit for five years, with effect from April 2015, for micro, small and medium enterprises, and 416 tariff lines.The contraction in merchandise exports ease to a single digit on a year-on-year basis in the March quarter. Net export turned to a positive 0.1 per cent, fall

Another round of wordy ambiguity

Reversal of credit will not be required for service by way of transportation of goods by a vessel from the customs station of clearance in India to a place outside

Easing norms for exim trade

The single window would provide the importers/exporters a single point interface for customs clearance of import and export goods

Recent changes for exim traders

The Bill also proposes to remove from the negative list any services by way of transportation of goods by an aircraft or a vessel from a place outside India up to the Customs station of clearance here