Apparel exporters urge FinMin to restore previous ROSL rate

Apparel exporters' body AEPC today urged the government to restore the rebate on states levies rate at of 3.9 per cent and revoke the requirement of certificates for claiming duty drawback.
AEPC claimed that the interim ROSL rate of 0.39 per cent will adversely affect apparel exports.
In a statement, Apparel Exports Promotion Council (AEPC) said it has asked the Ministry of Finance to restore the ROSL rate at 3.9 per cent and also requested that for GST on job work and stock transfer where drawback is not available, input tax credit be allowed for those availing the drawback route.

Earlier, the Ministry of Textiles had notified the interim rebate on states levies (ROSL) scheme at 0.39 per cent rate and through another notification made it compulsory for exporters to give a declaration and certificates in a prescribed format for claiming the duty drawback.
In a letter addressed to G K Pillai, Chairman of the Drawback Committee of Ministry of Finance, AEPC Chairman Ashok G Rajani said the declaration and certificates will increase the compliance burden on exporters as well as transition cost, considering the fact that GST has been rolled out only a few days back and the offices are not yet ready for providing any additional certificates.

"The government has continued the interim duty drawback under GST regime for 3 months up to September 30 2017 which is indeed a welcome step. However, the interim ROSL rate which has been notified at 0.39 per cent, is a sharp reduction of 90 per cent from the previous rate of 3.9 per cent, which is not acceptable to us," Rajani said.

Moreover, he said the industry is not in a position to provide certificates for claiming duty drawback as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been rolled out only a week ago.
On the issue of GST on job work and stock transfers, Rajani said that earlier the industry was not subjected to any tax.

"This new cost does not get captured in the drawback route allowed in the transition period. We have suggested for inclusion of tax incidence on job work and stock transfers under the GST regime in the drawback provisions during the transition period," the AEPC Chairman said.