Concerned over rising duty refund claims, which have crossed Rs 4,800 crore in the past couple of months, exporters said that this is impacting shipments and the government must clear the arrears urgently.
Concerned over rising duty refund claims, which have crossed Rs 4,800 crore in the past couple of months, exporters said that this is impacting shipments and the government must clear the arrears urgently.
“We have been requesting the customs authorities to clear the claims but they do not seem to be responding. They appear to be more concerned about meeting their revenue targets,” Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Rafeeque Ahmed said.
He said that liquidity is a big issue for exports and pending claims of refund of service tax, duty drawback, rebate claims and VAT are affecting exports.
“At present, out of 118 ports, in 103 ports duty drawback claims alone are pending to the tune of Rs 4,821 crore as against the normal pendency of Rs 1,000 crore or less,” Ahmed said, “They (customs authorities) are simply saying that they cannot do anything. For them, their revenue target is more important“.
He also said that VAT claims in States like West Bengal, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are very high. If the claims continue to rise like this “India may not be able to achieve the desired growth in exports”, he said. The government is expecting a growth rate of 10 per cent in exports during the 2013-14 fiscal and has fixed a target of $325 billion from overseas shipments.
Ahmed said that at Jawaharlal Nehru Port, duty refund claims of Rs 1,593 crore are pending, while at Chennai and Kolkata sea ports they are at Rs 802 crore and 270 crore. “SME exporters would be worst hurt due to this,” he said. Indian exporters are facing challenges such as lack of shipping facility and delay in issuance of letter of credit by banks in Iran, said Ahmed.
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