Sanction of IGST refund claims to help clear Rs 2,500-cr dues: Irani

Union Minister Smriti Irani today said sanctioning of pending IGST refunds will help clear dues worth Rs 2,500 crore to textiles and apparel exporters.

"As vast majority of apparel units fall under MSME sector, sanction of pending IGST refund claims will invigorate the industry & give a much needed boost to exports," Irani said in a tweet.

She said the sanction of pending IGST refund claims will help to clear outstanding IGST amount of approximately Rs 2,500 crore against textiles and apparel exports as enunciated by export promotion councils.

"Interim solution is a big relief for exporters. Decision taken subsequent to our meeting with Export Promotion Councils on Sunday is testimony to the speed of governance & Government of India's commitment towards exponential growth of textiles sector," the Textiles Minister said.

Representatives from Apparel Export Promotion Council had on Sunday raised issues related to blockage of GST refunds and delay in disbursal of Rebate on State Levies (RoSL) dues in a meeting with Finance Minister Piyush Goyal and Irani.

In another tweet, the Textiles Minister said she was "grateful to dynamic @PiyushGoyal for sanctioning IGST refund claims of exporters facing blockage due to non-transmission of data between GSTN & Customs EDI System".

In a circular to all principal chief commissioners and director generals, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said that exporters with refunds stuck have committed mistake while filing GSTR-1 and 3B. Besides, there are certain cases where they have "short paid" Integrated GST (IGST) vis-a-vis their liability declared in GSTR-1.

Because of the mismatch in GSTR-3B and GSTR-1, GST Network (GSTN), the company handling the IT backbone for new indirect tax regime, could not transmit records to Customs EDI system and consequently IGST refunds could not be processed, it said.

Goods and Services Tax (GST), which subsumed over a dozen local taxes, was rolled out from July 1, 2017.