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Our Bureau

New Delhi , March 24

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has extended the validity of the duty entitlement passbook (DEPB) scheme by a year.

Exports effected up to March 31, 2007 will now be eligible for duty neutralisation benefits under the scheme.

This move would come as a relief for the exporting community, which was keen that the uncertainty over the fate of the existing DEPB scheme be removed. The Government had already extended the DEPB scheme twice and had last extended its validity to March 31, 2006.

New scheme

A new scheme to replace the DEPB scheme has been in the works for more than a year. The Revenue Department and the Commerce Ministry have had their share of differences on the features of the proposed new scheme.

The existing scheme neutralises the Customs duty on the imports content of the export product. This scheme serves a little over 50 per cent of the country's merchandise exports in value terms. India's merchandise exports during April-March 2005 stood at Rs 3,56,068 crore.

In fact , the 39-member Board of Trade (BOT) had urged the Commerce Ministry to extend the validity of the DEPB scheme by a year.

FIEO happy

Welcoming the decision to extend the validity , the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said that this would bring stability to the scheme and also help the exporting community undertake proper costing of the export shipments from September this year. "This decision has removed the element of uncertainty surrounding the DEPB scheme," Mr Ajai Sahai, Director General of FIEO, told Business Line.

More Stories on : Policy | Exports & Imports

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