New Delhi: Exporters on Thursday met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, their second meeting with the government in less than two weeks, to press for stimulus and resolution of GST related problems to boost sluggish shipments that are one reason for slowing economy.
Expeditious refund of duties, deferment of filing of GST returns for six months and expansion of the ambit of the composition scheme were some of the issues which were raised by industry and exporters during the meeting here on Thursday.
Exporters want resolution of problems arising from implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) also said that power there should not be any tax burden on export sales and for imparting competitiveness, taxes may be refunded through duty drawback.
"In absence of clear refund timelines, the new duty drawback rates notified on September 21 have added to the woes of exporting and thus effecting their order book position. It is suggested that the transition period of drawback may be extended beyond September 30 2017 till December 31," FIEO President Ganesh Gupta said.
"The minister gave a sympathetic hearing to our concerns and assured all possible help. He has taken all our points positively".
The FIEO also pressed for exemption from GST for merchant exporters, immediate start of the refund process with exporters facing liquidity issues and allowing export benefit scrips for payment of IGST and CGST.
"Small exporters are particularly hit with GST as they have to borrow money to pay GST. Availability and the cost of credit is adversely impacting them," he said.
The industry representatives also brought up compliance matters on which the finance minister invited suggestions to improve the GST implementation.
Traders, particularly SMEs, are facing issues in filing returns, which is increasing their compliance burden.
Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council Chairman Praveenshankar Pandya said the sector is faced with a huge problem as exports are declining.
They also demanded exemption from Integrated GST (IGST) on procurement of precious metals from nominated agencies for the purpose of manufacturing and export of jewellery.
"Small businesses are getting impacted more. Some have cut their productions also. We have raised the issue of compliance," Pandya said adding "We got a positive response from the minister. They would tabulate our demands and put before the GST Council".
Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) Council Member Satwinder Singh said concerns related to reverse charge mechanism and refund were raised in the meeting.
HC gives exemption to export companies from paying IGST
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has allowed private companies to import goods to manufacture products for export without paying the additional levy of the latest Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST).
A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Pratibha M Singh, in an interim direction, permitted petitioners DBS Bank Ltd India, Chemico Synthetics Ltd, India Glycols Ltd, Shree Renuka Sugars Lts and Narendra Plastic Private Ltd to import goods constituting inputs for the fulfilment of its export orders placed before July 1, without paying the additional levy of IGST.
The bench also issued notice to the Centre and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) after it was alleged that despite the September 11 interim order of the court, Narendra Plastic was forced to pay IGST on clearances effected by it under the valid licenses issued prior to July 1.
The court sought counter affidavits on the pleas and said this order should be delivered to the CBEC forthwith for further communication to all the Commissionerates with clear direction that it should be complied with.
Advocate Abhishek A Rastogi, who was representing all the petitioners, had challenged levy of IGST.
He said the development would certainly provide confidence to the exporters who are on Thursday struggling with various challenges.
While granting the interim order, the bench said, "companies will be permitted to clear the consignments of imports constituting inputs for the fulfilment of its export orders placed on it prior to July 1, 2017 without any additional levies, and subject to the quantity and value as specified in the advance authorisation licenses issued to it prior to July 1, 2017."
The order said the interim direction was "further subject to the petitioner furnishing an undertaking by way of an affidavit ... within one week to the effect that in the case of the petitioner ultimately not succeeding in this writ petition, or failing to fulfil its export obligations, it is liable to pay the entire IGST as was leviable, together with whatever interest as the court may determine at the time of final disposal of the petition."
Narendra Plastic, which is into manufacturing and export of plastic products, had approached the court against a notification issued under the recent GST regime that levies an additional tax on imports made after July 1 this year.
The company claimed that it held export orders placed before July 1, for the fulfilment of which it has to undertake imports of inputs.
As per the Advance Authorisation Scheme (AAS) under the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020, exporter manufacturers were entitled to duty-free import of inputs which are physically incorporated in the export product.