Over Rs 15k cr disbursed to exporters till December 25 this fiscal under duty refund scheme RoDTEP
It has benefited more than 1.11 lakh exporters so far this financial year, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
The program was implemented on January 1, 2021. It refunds resident taxes and duties that are not deducted under any other mechanism.
The program helps ensure that Indian exports remain competitive in global markets by neutralizing such duties in a WTO-compliant manner.
In FY22, the rebate distributed was Rs 14,798.42 Million and increased to Rs 18,734.56 Million in FY25.
He said labour-intensive sectors such as textiles and apparel, seafood, agricultural products, chemicals and engineering products are among the main beneficiaries and constitute a significant portion of RoDTEP support and contribute significantly to job creation and export growth.
In a separate response, the minister said the growth in India’s imports from China has slowed down over time, but this fiscal year, India’s exports to China have grown faster than imports. India’s imports from China increased by 618.73 percent in FY 2005-14, while it increased by 87.81 percent in the period between FY 2005 and FY 25.
In the current fiscal year, India’s exports to China increased by 38.31 percent on an annual basis in the April-January period, while its imports from China increased by 13.82 percent.
“India’s imports from China have increased largely due to India’s rising demand for capital goods, intermediate goods and raw materials such as API, automobile components, electronic parts and assemblies, mobile phone parts, etc., which are also exported from India.
“These products are imported to meet the demand of rapidly expanding sectors in India such as electronics, pharmaceuticals, telecom and energy,” Prasada said.
In another reply, Prasada said the main non-tariff measures faced by Indian exporters are related to the EU’s REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) requirements.
Non-tariff barriers faced by Indian exporters include a delay in listing new Indian entities in the EU’s Trade Control and Expert System New Technology for Fish and Fisheries products; Approval of the Milk and Dairy Products Residue Monitoring Plan is awaited.
Higher sampling controls on aquaculture shrimp shipments in India and stringent Maximum Residue Limits for tea products, spices and seasoning products are other hurdles.
