1. Objective:
To provide rewards to exporters to offset infrastructural inefficiencies and associated cost.
Also to encourage and maximize export of notified services from India.
2. Eligibility:
A. Service provider located in India shall be rewarded under SEIS. If he provides:
a) Supply of services from India to any other country or;
b) Supply of services from India to service consumer/s of any other country in India.
B. Such a service provider should have a minimum net free foreign exchange earnings in the preceding financial year :
a) Individual Service Providers and Sole Proprietorship – US$ 10,000
b) Others – US$ 15,000.
C. Payment earned in Indian Rupees (₹) on specified services shall be deemed foreign earnings as per the guidelines of Reserve Bank of India (Appendix 3).
D. For the purpose of this scheme
Net Foreign Exchange = Gross earnings of Foreign Exchange – Total Payment/ Expenses/ remittances in Foreign Exchange by the Import Export Code (IEC) holder, relating to the service sector in the Financial Year.
E. If an exporter is a manufacturer of good as well as service provider, then the foreign exchange earnings and Total expenses/payment/remittances shall be taken into account for the service sector only.
F. The service provider should have an active IEC Code at the time of rendering of services.
3. Ineligible Category under SEIS:
A. Foreign Exchange remittances other than those earned for rendering of notified services would not be counted for entitlement.
B. Equity or debt participation, donations, receipt of repayment of loans etc.
C. Any other inflow of foreign exchange, unrelated to rendering of services, would be ineligible.
4. Entitlement under SEIS:
Service Provider of eligible services shall be entitled to Duty Credit Scrip at notified rates (as given in Appendix 3D) on net foreign exchange earned.
5. Remittances through Credit Card and other instruments for SEIS:
Free Foreign Exchange earned through international credit cards and other instruments, as permitted by RBI shall also be taken into account for computation of the value of exports.
6. Effective Date of Schemes:
The rewards under MEIS/SEIS shall be admissible for exports made/services rendered on or after the date of notification of this policy.
7. Special Provisions:
Government reserves the right in public interest to:
A. Specify Export Products or services or markets which shall not be eligible for computation of entitlements of duty credit scrip.
B. Impose restriction/change the rate/ ceiling on duty credit scrip.
C. Notify goods in Appendix 3A which shall not be allowed for debiting through Duty Credit Scrips in case of imports.
D. May prescribe value cap of any kind for a product/s or limit total reward per IEC holder.
8. Service and Rate of Reward:
The rate of reward under SEIS has been slashed from 7% to 5% w.e.f August 2019.
9. Time Limit for filing application for Duty Credit Scrips:
An application for obtaining Duty Credit Scrips shall be filed within a period of 12 months from the end of the relevant financial year of the claim period. Such application is filed online for a financial year on an annual basis in form ANF 3B digital signature.
10. Validity Period of Duty Credit Scrips:
A. Duty Credit Scrip shall be valid for a period of 24 months from the date of issue.
B. Revalidation not permitted.
11. Services Eligible to claim Benefits under the SEIS:
A. Business Services
B. Communication Services
C. Construction and Related Engineering Services
D. Educational Services
E. Environmental Services
F. Health-related and Social Services
G. Tourism and Travel-Related Services
H. Recreational, Cultural and Sporting Services
I. Transport Services.
12. Utilization of Duty Credit Scrips:
A. Basic Customs Duty and Additional Customs Duty.
B. Payment of Central excise duty on domestic procurement of inputs or goods.
C. But cannot be utilised for payment of IGST and GST compensation cess in case of imports, and
D. It cannot also be used for CGST, SGST, UTGST and GST compensation CESS in case of domestic procurement.
13. GST on Duty Credit Scrips:
A. Duty Credit Scrips are classified under HSN 4907.
B. GST is exempted on sale/Transfer of Duty Credit Scrips.
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