On Thursday, the Union Commerce Minister, Piyush Goyal, announced the extension of incentives within the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme for e-commerce exports.
“The government will be extending RoDTEP benefits for exports through ecommerce,” said Goyal while addressing an event organised by the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
He further mentioned that the incentives will be officially communicated by the DGFT in the upcoming weeks.
The scheme provides reimbursements for taxes, duties, and levies incurred by exporters during the production and distribution of goods, a reimbursement that is predominantly unaddressed by any other mechanism at the central, state, or local level.
A spokesperson additionally conveyed that the Union Commerce Ministry is poised to promptly establish the requisite IT framework and other facilitators to facilitate the extension of the scheme for exporters.
The move is anticipated to enhance e-commerce exports and provide incentives and benefits to domestic micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), supporting the government’s objective of achieving $1 trillion in merchandise exports by 2030.
At the event, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was inked between the DGFT and the logistics startup Shiprocket to conduct ‘holding capacity building and handholding sessions’ as part of the DGFT’s ecommerce outreach programme.
Speaking about the upcoming ecommerce policy, Goyal said that the proposed rules are at the final stages of discussion. He added that the government is hopeful of bringing out the policy very soon.
The RoDTEP sops come at a time when the DGFT and the Centre have taken a slew of steps to spur e-commerce exports in the country. In November, the government stated that the foreign trade agency was working with the Department of Revenue to develop an initiative on the lines of the ‘composition levy scheme’ to waive GST for smaller MSME players.
The DGFT has collaborated with the Department of Post to enhance and extend Dak Niryat Kendras and foreign post offices (FPOs) to support e-commerce exports. On an international level, the government is also collaborating with postal services from various countries to establish a comprehensive online tracking mechanism for export consignments.
In the domestic arena, the DGFT has partnered with the e-commerce platform Amazon to initiate a pilot program aimed at training e-commerce exporters in 20 districts. The prominent e-commerce player is optimistic about e-commerce exports from India and aims to elevate the figure to $20 billion by 2025.