With exporters continuing to face problems in shipments of consignments under the Goods and Services Tax regime, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chief has pulled up field officials and said that recent relaxations provided to exporters should be allowed.

“The objective of allowing Letter of Undertaking in place of bond is to facilitate exporters. And towards this end, the said notification liberalises the conditions for exporters, extending the benefit of LUT to all kinds of exporters, whether manufacturers, merchants or service providers,” CBEC Chairperson Vanaja N Sarna wrote in a recent missive.

Relaxations

To ensure faster clearance of exports under GST, the CBEC had earlier this month relaxed guidelines and allowed exports to continue under existing bonds and letters of undertaking till July 31. It had also said that exporters can now submit bonds or LUTs in the revised format for GST, by the end of the month. Last week, it allowed similar relaxations for export-oriented units.

Noting that despite the relaxations, the CBEC is still receiving grievances from exporters on delays, she has further said: “ It must be ensured that every exporter, whether registered in Central Excise or Service Tax in pre-GST regime or not, should be facilitated to the maximum extent possible.”

The CBEC has now directed three customs houses in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai-I to examine the queries of exporters and importers, and furnish draft response within a day.

Uncertainty

Following the provisions for exports under GST has not been easy, and many exporters have also complained to the CBEC.

“Despite clarifications by the government, there is still a lot of confusion at the ground level, and officials are still uncertain about how to proceed,” said an industry source.

The government is also concerned that the ground-level confusion could impact the country’s exports for July.

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