CII urges govt to consider special incentives to push exports

Industry body CII today called on the government to look at special initiatives to promote exports, including through ways to examine certain provisions under the GST regime.
In a statement, the Confederation of Indian Industry has suggested that payment of IGST for imports should be allowed to be debited under advance authorisation, and advance receipts for exports should be exempted from payment of Integrated GST.
The CII plea came on a day when the Committee on Exports chaired by Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia met eight export promotion bodies to know their concerns post implementation of the Goods and Services Tax from July 1.

The chamber recommended that under GST rules, a manufacturer who supplies goods to an exporter for onward trade should be considered as an exporter so that GST is not applicable on inter-state sales by manufacturers to export trading houses.
Earlier, such manufacturer exporters had no taxes applicable on intermediate export transactions and related benefits were available.
"Another important issue is that under VAT/CST, merchant exporters could purchase goods without payment of tax on furnishing of a declaration form. This provision needs to be added under the GST law," CII said. "Currently, the tax for inputs for exports is needed to be paid directly even though provision for refund is provided. Further, quick refunds of IGST paid on exports would greatly help exporters.