Govt notifies new duty drawback rates for 4000 export items

Directorate of Drawback has notified the revised All Industry Rates of Duty Drawback  or tax refunds on 4,000 export items for the current fiscal which have also been extended to all the DEPB items.  The rates are slightly lower than what was provided in 2010-11.The CBEC has notified it vide Notifications No 68 & Notifications No  69, Drawback Schedule for 2011-12 and List of DEPB items and Customs Circular 42/2011.

While notifying the All Industry Rates of Duty Drawback for 2011-12, the Revenue Department said, “most of the items which are already covered under the duty drawback schedule will suffer a minor reduction in the existing drawback rates”.

The reduction is mainly on account of the reduction in basic customs duty on crude petroleum as well as a reduction in central excise duty on diesel, it added.

The new Duty Drawback rates will come into effect from October 1.

Exporters will now get drawback on 4,000 items including those which are presently covered under the Duty Entitlement Passbook (DEPB) scheme.

The DEPB scheme, which is popular among the exporters and covers about 1,100 items, will expire on September 30.

The benefits to exporters of these items under drawback scheme is, however, lower by 1-3 per cent in comparison to the DEPB scheme.

It further said that while incorporating these DEPB items in the Drawback schedule, care has been taken to classify them appropriately.

Industry sources said the reduction in refund rates amounts to withdrawal of the stimulus package given in 2008-09 after the global financial crisis.

The government had spent Rs 8,700 crore last year on DEPB refunds on various items in sectors like engineering, chemical, pharma, textile and marine products.

Though exports have shown a remarkable performance, growing by 54.2% between April-August 2011 to USD 134.5 billion, there are concerns that the momentum may not be sustained in the wake of increasing economic problems in the US and Europe.