The government has restored full benefits of Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) to help the exporters who are facing business disruption  West Asia from war and tariffs in key markets. Through a notification on Monday, the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) superseded its earlier notification of February 23, which had reduced the scheme’s benefits by 50%.

Following an outcry on February 24 the DGFT restored RoDTEP benefits for exports of agriculture and processed food items. The latest notification restores full benefits on all 10,780 products from February 23 until March 31, 2026 when the scheme’s current extension expires.

Exports from units in the Domestic Tariff Area (DTA), Export Oriented Units (EoU), Advance Authorisations (AA) holders and units in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) will be eligible for the scheme.

RoDTEP reimburses multiple duties

RoDTEP reimburses central, state, and local taxes, duties, and levies that are currently not refunded under any other mechanism but are incurred by exporters during the manufacture and distribution of exported products. A major component of these taxes includes electricity duty and VAT on fuels used in the transportation and distribution of export products.

Refunds usually range from 0.3% to 3.9% of the value of exported products. They are given as a transferable duty credit scrip which exporters can use to pay import duties or sell in the market.

The scheme operates within a budgetary framework, meaning benefits must be managed within the allocated budget.

For 2026-27 the scheme’s allocation is Rs 15,728 crore, of which Rs 5,346 crore is for clearing past dues. Effectively, only around Rs 10,382 crore is available next year for benefits. The Commerce Ministry had sought Rs 21,729 crore for the scheme for 2026-27.

For this financial year Rs 19,080 crore has been earmarked for the scheme in the revised estimates of which Rs 991 crore is for paying arrears.

Apparel, garments, and made-ups are outside RoDTEP and are covered by the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) Scheme. It replaced the Merchandise Exports from India scheme which along with other export promotion schemes were successfully challenged at the World Trade Organization (WTO) by the US

RoDTEP has seen many extensions and modifications since its introduction. The current period of extension is expiring on March 31, 2026. Cumulatively, from 1st April 2021 till 31st December 2025, the benefit of Rs. 77,262.60 crore has been granted to exporters under the RoDTEP Scheme