Concerned over delays in processing of duty drawbacks: Panel

A Parliamentary panel has raised concerns over delays in processing of duty drawback claims by revenue departments in several states including Gujarat, Bihar and Rajasthan.
Public Accounts Committee, Chaired by K V Thomas, said that in Gujarat, out of 88,000 claims analysed, delays occurred in 20,856 cases.
Similarly, in Andhra Pradesh there are delays in processing 10,177 cases over half of which were processed after more than three months.
"The Committee are concerned to note significant delays in processing drawback claims in the Commissionerates in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh," the report tabled in the Lok Sabha today said.

Duty drawback scheme seeks to rebate the taxes chargeable on any imported/excisable input material and input services used in the manufacturing of export goods.
It said the reasons for delays in claims processing include pointing of deficiencies in the claim beyond the stipulated period of 10 days, submission of deficient documents and raising of generalised queries.

"These clearly indicate lack of awareness on the part of the exporters in filing the claims and absence of proper supervision by the officials concerned," it said.
It also said that the finance ministry has admitted that it may not be possible to adhere to the 10 day time limit of raising and communicating the deficiencies in claims filing in every case due to increase in the number of drawback shipping bills. They increased from 14.73 lakh in 2010-11 to 28.4 lakh in 2012-13.

"This further strengthens the need for a proper study of the process to identify the attributes which cause delay and address them by proper designing of the system in automated environment," it said.
The committee urged the ministry to undertake a study with a view to fine tune the system and streamline the verification procedure so as to enable faster processing of claims.
"The committee would also like the ministry to take earnest efforts to make the exporters aware of the relevant rules, procedures, processes concerning claim processing so as to avoid wastage of time," it added.
Earlier, Indian exporters had raised concerns over delay in duty refund claims and had said that it impacts shipments.

Further, the committee said that fixation of all industry rates (AIR) of drawback was not done in a transparent manner.
"While the working of the drawback committee to arrive at declared rates regarding fixation of AIR of drawback was not fully documented, the Directorate of Drawback could not produce year-wise data regarding cos sheets of various commodities...That would have been the basis of fixation of AIR," it said.