To check black money menace, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take action against nearly 800 errant companies that have claimed duty drawback but are yet to bring back export proceeds.

Each of these firms have export proceeds pending for realisation of more than ₹100 crore and action will be taken under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, said the Finance Ministry in a statement on Thursday.

Of these, 216 companies have pending proceeds for the period before March 1, 2016 and another 572 firms for the period after that.

The issue came up for discussion during a recent review meeting where it emerged from data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that a huge amount of export proceeds have not been realised.

Based on SIT’s request for details of exports where exports proceeds were yet to be utilised even after a period of more than one year, the RBI has provided data on export outstanding for shipping bills before March 1, 2014 as well as those that were pending after March 1, 2014.

Under RBI norms, all exporters have to bring foreign exchange into the country as export proceeds within one year of the date of exports. “Not bringing export proceeds is a violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) as it amounts to illicitly parking funds abroad,” said the Finance Ministry. The Supreme Court appointed SIT has also asked the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to check from its database the number of companies that have claimed duty drawback but have failed to bring export proceeds and take necessary action against them.

The SIT has also recommended that the RBI should develop an institutional mechanism and IT system to immediately red flag cases where exports have been outstanding in violation of FEMA guidelines and share the complete data with the ED and DRI on a monthly basis.

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