File picture of Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal
NEW DELHI: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday asked his team to seek an early payment of exporters’ dues from the finance ministry, while looking at ways to help businesses raise funds against these dues. An option being explored by the commerce department, is to accept applications from exporters for the now-defunct Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) so that traders can avail of loans against the outstanding amount and get some liquidity.
The revenue department has been sitting on refunds for over a year apart from not paying exporters under the new Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) scheme that was launched in January. But even four months later, the government is yet to notify the rates resulting in around Rs 15,000 crore of duty refunds pending with the Centre. Some estimates suggest that close to Rs 50,000 crore of MEIS payments are also due. Similarly, payment of dues under the Services Export from India Scheme are pending for FY20.