Urgent need for at least 5% remission rate for aluminium sector: AAI

The Aluminium Association of India (AAI) on Wednesday expressed urgent need for at least 5 per cent remission rate for the sector under the tax refund scheme RoDTEP to ensure global competitiveness.

In a statement, the AAI said that it has also requested the government for a separate budget allocation for the aluminium industry, being a strategic sector, to realise the immense potential to double aluminium exports over the next two-three years.

In a letter to the government, the AAI expressed "the urgent need for at least 5% remission rate for the aluminium sector under RoDTEP Scheme to ensure its global competitiveness".

Highlighting the urgency of the matter, the AAI said that the government needs to notify the actual remission rates as per actual sectoral data submitted to the RoDTEP Committee.

The inordinate delay in notifying the sector-wise remission rates is creating a precarious situation and a high level of uncertainty for the Indian exporters.

"It is adversely impacting exports due to ambiguity w.r.t. pricing of exports goods and absence of any clarity on the mechanism of duty remission/ drawback rates for exports," it said.

The situation for exporters further aggravates with the withdrawal of Merchandise Export Incentive Scheme, as to date the exporters are unable to avail the MEIS benefit for exports already made during FY'20 and FY'21 (Apr-Dec) due to the blocking of the online MEIS module for

applying claims.

"The Commerce Ministry/DGFT are yet to notify the rates due to government's current situation pertaining to budgetary constraints," it said.

The AAI further said that in the Union Budget 2021-22 only Rs 13,000 crore for RoDTEP scheme were allocated against Rs 50,000 crore announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in September 2019.

This allocation is just one-third of the Rs 39,097 crore allocated in FY20 for MEIS, the AAI claimed.

Earlier, the government had approved the scheme for Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products for reimbursement of taxes and duties to exporters, with a view to give a boost to the country's dwindling outbound shipments.