New Delhi, Sept 10 (KNN) The government will release Rs 56,027 crore as unpaid incentives due to exporters under various government schemes in the current fiscal.

‘’Under the decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Government of India has decided to budget Rs 56,027 crore in this Financial Year FY 21-22 itself in order to disburse all pending export incentives due to exporters. This amount includes claims relating to MEIS, SEIS, RoSL, RoSCTL, other scrip based schemes relating to earlier policies and the remission support for RoDTEP and RoSCTL for exports made in the 4th quarter of FY 20-21,’’ an official statement said on Thursday. 

According to the statement, benefits would be disbursed to more than 45,000 exporters, out of which about 98 per cent are small exporters in the MSME category.

Exports in India have seen robust growth in recent months. Merchandise exports for April-August, 2021 was nearly 164 billion dollars, which is an increase of 67 per cent over 2020-21 and 23 per cent over 2019-20. 

‘’This decision to clear all pending export incentives within this financial year, will lead to even more rapid export growth in coming months,’’ the statement claimed.

For merchandise exports, all sectors covered under MEIS, such as Pharmaceuticals, Iron and steel, Engineering, Chemicals, Fisheries, Agriculture and allied Sectors, Auto and Auto Components would be able to claim benefits for exports made in earlier years. Benefits would help such sectors to maintain cash flows and meet export demand in the international market, which is recovering fast this financial year.

Service sector exporters, including those in the travel, tourism and hospitality segments will be able to claim SEIS benefits for FY 2019-2020, for which Rs 2,061 crore has been provisioned. The SEIS for FY 2019-20 with certain revisions in service categories and rates is being notified. This support would have a multiplier effect and spur employment generation.

The apparel sector, which is a major labour-intensive sector, would get past arrears under ROSCTL and ROSL, and all stakeholders in the interconnected supply chains would be strengthened to meet the festive season demand in international markets, it said.

Export claims relating to earlier years will need to be filed by the exporters by 31st December 2021 beyond which they will become time barred. The Online IT portal will be enabled shortly to accept MEIS and other scrip based applications and would be integrated with a robust mechanism set up by the Ministry of Finance to monitor provisioning and disbursement of the export incentives under a budgetary framework.

‘’A decision to clear all pending export incentives within this Financial Year itself despite other budgetary commitments arising out of the pandemic is with the objective of providing timely and crucial support to this vital pillar of the Indian economy,’’ it added.