TMA scheme – An initiative to boost agriculture / food exports

Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) scheme for specified agriculture products aims to provide assistance for the international component of freight and marketing of agricultural produce.

#Eligible persons

All Exporters, duly registered with relevant Export Promotion Councils as per Foreign Trade Policy, of eligible agriculture products.

#Eligible products/countries

• TMA assistance will be provided on export of all agriculture products covered in Chapter 1 to 24 including marine and plantation products except for specified products.
• TMA assistance is available for most of the agricultural product exports with some exceptions such as live animals, products of animal origin, milk, cream, curd, butter, butter-milk, whey, rice, wheat, tobacco and garlic.
• TMA assistance is available for specified list of export destinations/countries in each region.

#Eligible rates

• Assistance, at notified rates (as per Annexure-1 at end of blog) , will be available for export of eligible agriculture products to the permissible countries, as specified from time to time
• Assistance under TMA would be provided in cash through direct bank transfer as part reimbursement of freight paid. FOB supplies where no freight is paid by Indian exporters are not covered under this scheme.
• The assistance shall be admissible only if payments for the exports are received in Free Foreign Exchange through normal banking channels.

#What type of assistance is covered?

• The scheme covers freight and marketing assistance for export by air as well as by sea.(both normal and refrigerated cargo)
• For export of product by sea : TM will be based on freight paid for a full Twenty-feet Equivalent unit (TEU) containers.
• For export of product by air: TM will be based on per ton freight charges on the net weight of the export cargo, calculated on full ton basis.

The assistance will not be available for (i) Less than Container Load (LCL) and (ii) a container having both eligible and ineligible category of cargo. Further, no TMA is available where the cargo is shipped in bulk/break bulk mode.

The scheme shall be admissible for exports made through EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) ports only.

#Periodicity of claiming assistance

The application for claim on TMA will be made on quarterly basis

#Time-limit for claiming assistance

Online claims should be filed within a period of one year from the completion of quarter in which exports have been made.

#Procedure to claim assistance

Online application has to be filed for claiming reimbursement from DGFT, as per the procedure laid down in Chapter 7(A)B of Handbook of Procedures (2015-2020).

E-com module for filing TMA application would be made available on http://dgftcom.nic.in/eComapplications.html per Trade Notice no. 29/2019-20 dated 8^th August 2019.

#Recommendation for Exporters

Each exporter should evaluate the eligibility of availing reimbursement under TMA, prepare required documents and accordingly, file applications within prescribed time-frame.

You can share your Feedbacks and reviews at our email id-bizbrainsadvisors@gmail.com

——————————————————————————————————————–

#Annexure – 1 Notified rates for TMA assistance

Differential rate of assistance under TMA (Amount in Indian Rupees)