The government has extended Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme for another three months till December 31, 2026 as it seeks to provide greater certainty to exporters amid continuing pressure to improve India’s cost competitive-ness in global markets and deal with disruptions in trade due to ongoing wars and tariff challenges.

The scheme that reimburses taxes, duties and levies at the central, state and local level which are currently not being refunded under any other mechanism but are incurred by the exporters in the process of manufacture and distribution of exported products was due to expire on September 30 and extension came through a notification by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).

A major component of such taxes include electricity duty and VAT on fuels used in the transportation and distribution of export products.

The scheme covers exports of 10.780 products from the 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.

Refunds usually range from from 0.3% to 3.9% of the value of exported products. They are given in the form of transferable duty credit scrip which can be used to pay import duties or sold in the market by exporters. 

The scheme is operated within a budgetary framework which means that the benefits should be managed within the allocated budget.

For 2026-27 the allocation for the scheme is Rs 15,728 crore, of which Rs 5,346 crore is for clearing past dues. So effectively just around Rs 10,382 crore is available this year for benefits. For 2025-26 Rs 19,080 crore was earmarked for the scheme in the revised estimates of which Rs 991 crore is for paying the arrears.


Apparel and Garments and Made-ups are outside the RoDTEP and are covered by the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) Scheme.

RoDTEP 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 it was first introduced from January 1, 2021.

The current period of extension is expiring on September 30, 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.