Finally, govt to clear exporters’ Rs 56,000cr dues – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday said that it will clear unpaid incentives of over Rs 56,000 crore to exporters, with some of the arrears going back at least two years.
“Along with the tax refunds, this will create Rs 75,000-crore liquidity for exporters,” commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal told reporters. The move came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention, he said, adding that 45,000 exporters stand to benefit.
While the commerce department and exporters had been pushing for it, the revenue department had not released funds to clear the dues, resulting in exporters having to borrow or dip into their reserves. The finance ministry seems to have changed its stance after an improvement in cash flow in the wake of a pick-up in economic activity following the lethal second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In fact, even the new tax refund scheme was operationalised eight months after it kicked in.
Although the announcement came on Thursday, the payment will take time. Goyal said that claims will have to be lodged on a portal by exporters by up to December 31, which means payments will be made in the months after that.
Exporters have complained that refunds and incentives announced by the government should not be stopped just as the authorities do not stop collecting taxes. Besides, stoppages are seen to breed a system where officials adopt a pick-and-choose policy.
The bulk of the arrears, around Rs 33,000 crore, relate to Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), while Rs 10,000 crore are for the service sectors, which have been hit hardest by the pandemic. Several of the beneficiaries would include travel, tourism and hospitality companies. Another Rs 5,300 crore will be used to refund the duty paid by textiles exporters.