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FIEO offers you an opportunity for Online Chat every Wednesday between 3 to 5 pm (IST) with Mr. Ajay Sahai, Director General (FIEO) on issues related with foreign trade. Mr. Sahai has served many important offices in various capacitites. As Jt. DGFT (Policy), during 1996-2003, he was closely associated with the formulation of the Exim Policy. Feel free to seek clarifications/advices from Mr. Sahai on issues related with foreign trade. All that you need to do is to just click ‘FIEO On-Line Chat Service’ at www.fieo.org. Some portions of the Chats held last weeks are reproduced here. |
I want to export hand-knotted woolen carpets containing 30% cotton (used as warp as well as backing) and 70% silk under the drawback scheme. At what rate will I get the drawback?
Hand-knotted woolen carpets with 70% wool are classified under Drawback Schedule S. No. 570101 which attracts drawback @ 12.5%.
Custom officials at the port are telling us that such carpets will be covered under "other" as under S No. 570101 only 100 % woolen carpets can be allowed.
CBEC has clarified that carpets and floor coverings, whether knotted, woven, tufted or others, may be classified as carpets or floor coverings of that textile material (wool/ silk/ MMF etc.) which predominates by weight and thus in your case since wool is the predominant material, so it will be classified as woolen carpet. You may show them Customs Circular 2/2008 dated 10-01-2008 issued in this regard.
Does the depreciation provision as per Customs Notification 52/03, as amended, apply to the locally procured Capital Goods when Sold in DTA on payment of applicable duty as per provision 6.36.2 & 6.36.3 of Foreign Trade Policy 2004-09?
The provisions of Notification No. 52/03 apply only to imported goods. For indigenous goods, Central Excise Notification 22/03 CE is applicable. Notification no. 22/03 CE earlier provided that capital goods locally procured may be cleared in DTA on payment of excise duty on depreciated value. Depreciation was provided at the rate of 20% p.a. in respect of computer and peripherals and 10% p.a in case of other capital goods. The same is now modified vide Notification no. 46/04 CE dated 06.09.04 which provides accelerated depreciation for computers as well as other capital goods (although at different rates) in such a way that 100% depreciation is reached in five years for computers and in ten years for other items, which was the position earlier also.
Is there any exemption of central excise duty for Small Scale Industries?
The Small Scale Units, which manufacture the goods specified in the relevant exemption notifications and fulfill the conditions therein, are exempt from payment of duty excise till their aggregate clearances do not exceed Rs. 1 Crore in a financial year. The small-scale units, whose clearances in the previous financial year exceeded the limit of Rs.3 Crore including the value of exempted goods but excluding exports, are not entitled to such exemption. However, the small scale units which are availing CENVAT credit are required to pay only 60% of the prescribed duty till their clearances reach Rs.1 Crore.
Is separate central excise registration required by 100% EOU?
No separate registration is required by EOUs. The licence granted by the jurisdictional Custom Officer under Section 58 of the Customs Act is sufficient.
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We are French Company looking to organize an exhibition of environment pollution control devices in ITPO premises in New Delhi. We would like to know the procedure for duty free import of equipment for this purpose.
Import of goods for display purpose in an exhibition is allowed without payment of duty as per customs notification 3/89 provided the exhibition is approved by an officer of a rank not below that of an Under Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Commerce or an officer of the India Trade Promotion Organisation and a certificate to this effect is produced to the Customs at the time of clearance of the goods that such exhibition: (i) is being held in the public interest, and (ii) is open to the general public.
The said notification is, however, not applicable for the goods displayed for private purposes with a view to promoting their sale. In such cases, the importers would be required to pay full customs duty at the time of import, though they can claim drawback under section 74 of the Customs Act, 1962 at the time of re-export of these goods.
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Can a merchant exporter exporting products manufactured by SSI unit claim double weightage for export house status? If yes, then what are the requirements?
As per note 1 given under paragraph 3.5.2 of Foreign Trade Policy, double weightage for export of products manufactured by an SSI unit is admissible to merchant as well as manufacturer exporters. Therefore, a merchant exporter exporting SSI products shall be entitled for double weightage for recognition as a status holder. But the Chartered Accountant will have to verify this in the CA certificate and application for recognition as status holder.
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We are engaged in commercial colour offset printing. We obtained EPCG Licence during September 2004 in terms of Para 5.3 of HB of procedures (Vol. I) 2004-2009. We submitted the installation certificate issued by Chartered Engineer to Regional Licensing Authority since our products are not exciseable and we are not registered with central excise authority. Now Regional Licensing Authority is demanding installation certificate issued by central excise authority.
You may draw attention of licensing authority to Public Notice 54 dated 1-10-07 which allows a non excisable unit to furnish installation certificate from Chartered Engineer.
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I have a Target Plus license issued on Aug. 2006, which is valid for 2 years. Can I get a revalidation of further 2 years on this license?
As per existing provisions, revalidation of Target Plus licence is not possible, though requests have been made to the DGFT to allow such revalidation.
We understand that Public Notice No. 28(RE-2007) under Paragraph 3.2.6A (VI) extends the validity of a licence for a further period of 12 months without the requirement of endorsement.
The said Public Notice has extended the validity of Target Plus licences till 31st July 2008 whereas your licence which has two-year validity is already valid upto 31st August 2008 and thus you will not be benefited by the aforesaid Public Notice.
We are exporters of readymade garments. We would like to know if there is any export duty on such goods.
There is no export duty on garments. There used to be Textile Cess on garments but that too has been abolished.
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We have export obligation under EPCG and we are exporting through third parties who are mentioning our EPCG license no. and name in Shipping Bills. Which documents do I need to submit with the DGFT with respect to our export obligation?
You may submit certificate by CA incorporating such shipping bills.
Is there any other document of exports required by any authority including DGFT?
You may see form ANF 5B and the documents prescribed therein.
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We are a 100% EOU. Is there any special branch or category under which we can get some special benefits, like VKUY?
Since EOUs get Income Tax (IT) benefit, no promotion benefit like VKUY or Focus Product Schemes are available to them but if they relinquish IT benefits, they can claim such benefits.
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What is the limit of duty free baggage allowance for an Indian returning from abroad after a tour?
An Indian, returning from any country other than Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar or China, is entitled for duty free clearance upto Rs 25,000 provided he stays abroad for more than three days. In case he stays for 3 or less than 3 days, then the duty free allowance will be upto a value of Rs 12,000. However, an Indian returning from Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar or China, other than by land route, is entitled for duty free clearance upto Rs. 6,000 provided he stays abroad for more than 3 days. In case, he stays for 3 pr less than 3 days, then duty free allowance would be upto a value of Rs 3,000.
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Can we get excise duty refund and DEBP benefits together?
Yes. You can get both as DEPB only neutralizes the basic customs duty on inputs given in SION on deemed import basis. The additional customs duty or excise duty on inputs can be offset through CENVAT.
We are told that the rules governing excise benefits to units in Uttrakhand have been modified recently. Can we know the details of the same?
As per the recent changes, the exemption from excise duty shall not apply to such goods which have been subjected to only one or more of the following processes like, preservation during storage, cleaning operations, packing or repacking of such goods in a unit container or labeling or re-labelling of containers, sorting, declaration or alteration of retail sale price and have not been subjected to any other process or processes amounting to manufacture in the States of Uttarakhand.
