Comments
With the World Trade Organization (WTO) prescribing withdrawal of prohibited subsidies given to the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) by the middle of 2020, the government is trying to fast-track work on reforming provisions for the zones to make them compatible with the multilateral norms.
One the options before the Commerce Ministry, which is exploring several alternative incentives for SEZ units, is the new bonded manufacturing space scheme that the Customs department implemented earlier this year, an official told BusinessLine .
“Discussions will take place between officials of the Commerce and Finance Ministries to see if some of the provisions of the new bonded manufacturing scheme could be replicated for SEZ units,” the official added.
On October 31, the WTO ruled that many of India’s export subsidies, including the ones given to SEZs, flouted multilateral trade rules as the country’s annual Gross National Income (GNI) had exceeded $1,000 annually for three consecutive years and such countries were not allowed to give export sops. The ruling was based on a complaint filed by the US.
Although India has challenged the panel verdict at the WTO Appellate Body, where work is temporarily suspended, the government wants to get its house in order as soon as possible with members like the US breathing down its neck.
Draw insights
“The Commerce Ministry is trying to draw insights from the revamped scheme for manufacturing in bonded warehouses as it involves exempting manufacturers from paying import duties on inputs and capital goods on items that are exported. As the tax exemptions are on inputs and not income, these are permissible under the WTO rules. For those selling the items in the domestic market, the payment of import duty could be deferred,” the official said.
Some experts point out that de-linking the SEZ sops from exports would also make them compliant with the WTO norms. As per the report of the high-level group on SEZs headed by Bharat Forge chief Baba Kalyani, Dominican Republic is a good example of regulatory reforms aimed at eliminating incentives contingent on export performance for entities in the SEZ. The government delinked the minimum export share requirement for various units operating in SEZs in a phased manner. Some studies done of the Dominican Republic model point out that the attractiveness of its SEZs as a destination to export from did not go down with the change in rules.
“One needs to be clear that the WTO ruling prohibiting export subsidies is for the SEZ units and not the developers. Since the WTO prohibits subsidies for exports, if the government revisits the incentives, namely the export-linked tax exemptions, the issue could be addressed. The tax exemption could be linked to investments made rather than export profits,” said Hitender Mehta, Managing Partner, Centrum Legal.
No clarity on sunset clause
SEZ investors are in the midst of more uncertainty as there is no clarity yet on whether the government would extend the sunset clause on the income tax exemption under the scheme. According to the sunset clause, the 100 per cent income tax exemption on export income for SEZ units under Section 10AA of the Income Tax Act for the first five years, 50 per cent for next five years and 50 per cent of the ploughed back export profit for subsequent five years, will expire on March 31, 2020.
A total of 351 SEZs have been notified so far, of which only 234 SEZs are operational.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.