At the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) Regional Awards presentation, the group of exporters alleged that the government has no intention of refunding the tax. Ironically, the state minister for micro, small and medium enterprises, textiles and tourism, Manabendra Mukherjee, was present at the function.

The total outstanding due is Rs 120 crore in the eastern region, Rs 100 crore in West Bengal and in the Howrah Foundry belt, it amounts to around Rs 40 crore, the EEPC stated.

The group claimed that in spite of making repeated requests to state Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, who happens to be the chairman of the Empowered Committee on VAT at the Centre, nothing has been done till date.

“We have sent the list of exporters entitled for the refunds thrice but no action has been taken,” said the chairman of EEPC, Rakesh Shah.

He also said that the exporters have already paid the Income Tax on the VAT refunds. Acknowledging the seriousness of the problem, Mukherjee said: “The issue of VAT is indeed a genuine problem and the state finance minister is looking into the matter seriously.”

According to the EEPC, the empowered committee had stipulated a timeframe of 90 days within which VAT had to be refunded to the exporters. While the refunding process was much faster in other states like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and Tamil Nadu, it seems that in spite of Centre’s assistance it has failed to make any difference in state, the group said.