Government extends RoSCTL scheme for garment exporters till March 21

NEW DELHI:  In a major relief for the pandemic -hit garment and made-ups exporters, the centre on Tuesday extended Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) scheme for one more year upto March 2021.In a notification on Tuesday, the Finance ministry said that the date is extended till “31 March, 2021 or until such date the ROSCTL scheme is merged with the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products scheme, whichever is earlier”.

The RoSCTL rebates the embedded taxes include central excise duty on fuel used in transportation, embedded CGST paid on inputs, purchases from unregistered dealers, inputs for transport sector and embedded CGST and compensation cess on coal used in the production of electricity. 

The move will bring positive sentiments among garment and made-ups exporters, who were reeling under cash crunch, said analysts.  “This scheme has been the backbone of policy support for the industry and will surely restore not just the competitiveness of the industry, but also positive sentiments for achieving higher export targets.

This has been the request of our members in the apparel export industry for a long time and who would definitely benefit from this measure,”  A. Sakthivel, chairman of Apparel Export Promotion Council had said last week. Last month the government released funds towards the rebate scheme for an earlier period after representations by exporters.

Apparel exports had been hit hard by lockdowns, dip in global  demand, increasing defaults and strep hike in logistics and other cost during covid, which, they claimed, affected their global competitiveness.
The apparel industry saw double digit decline in exports so far this financial year - 91.04 per cent in April, 66.19 per cent in May, 34.84 per cent in June and 22.09 per cent in July.