The Commerce Ministry has sought a five-year extension of the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme, which is due to expire on September 30. The move comes as the government seeks to provide greater certainty to exporters amid continuing pressure to improve India’s cost competitiveness in global markets and deal with disruptions in trade due to ongoing wars and tariff challenges..
The commerce ministry is in talks with the Ministry of Finance on the issue and a proposal has been sent to the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) in the Department of Expenditure. EFC appraises and recommends major public-funded central government schemes and projects involving large financial outlays.
“Based on last year’s expenditure we are already in discussion with the Department of Expenditure. I am sure that they are examining it and we will ensure there is predictability to it,” the official added.
The scheme reimburses taxes, duties and levies at the central, state and local levels that are currently not being refunded under any other mechanism but are incurred by exporters during the manufacture and distribution of exported products.
A major component of such taxes includes 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