CALCUTTA, January 28: The duty entitlement passbook (DEPB) scheme is indeed being reviewed, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) clarified on Tuesday in a press note issued by the Press Information Bureau. The cabinet secretary TSR Subramanium told exporters in Calcutta recently that the scheme would not be reviewed in this financial year.The note, which was issued on January 23, clarified that the directorate was in the process of finalising the new set of DEPB rates but those would be announced only in the next financial year.
"The process of rationalisation of the rates already announced on the basis of new data shall be continued and the revised rates shall be announced from April 1, 1998, after the review of the scheme," the press note stated.
It also asked the exporters and export promotion councils to continue furnishing data to help fixing of the rates under this scheme.
"Pending a detailed review, the process of finalising new rates shall continue. These new rates shall, however,be effective only from April 1, 1998. The export and export promotion councils may continue to furnish the necessary data prescribed in appendix `H' for fixation of the DEPB rates for fresh items for which standard input-output norms existed on April 1, 1997. No rates are admissible for any other items," the note said.
On the other hand, the cabinet secretary told exporters in Calcutta on January 14 that the union government had "decided not to review the scheme before the next fiscal because it has become a political issue due to misuses.""However, we also know that a large portion of the exporting community have gained from the scheme and I also do not mean that we have closed all doors for the scheme but there will be no further declaration of the DEPB rates till the end of the current fiscal."
Subramanium also asked the exporters, dealing with items where the rates are yet to be announced, to avail themselves of other schemes such as the value-based advance licence scheme and the duty drawbackscheme.
The DGFT note too said that for items exported under the DEPB scheme without the rates other options are being looked into by a review committee. "For shipments made during April-March 1998 for items where no DEPB rates have been notified so far the feasibility of opening any one or more of the following options shall be examined subject to the findings of the Review Committee:
"i) To wait for the announcement of DEPB rates which shall be announced on or after April 1, 1998.
"ii) To convert DEPB shipping bills to duty drawback shipping bills for goods for which all-India rates (AIR) are available.
"iii) To convert DEPB shipping bills to duty entitlement exemption credit (DEEC) shipping bills.
"iv) To convert DEPB shipping bills to post-export quantity based advance licence."
With this note, the DGFT is also, in effect, clarifying that the government is not scrapping the DEPB scheme.pA leading city-based exporter told The Financial Express that before the clarification was issued it wasfeared that the scheme would be scrapped. "Like so many other schemes, we were apprehending that the government was thinking of scrapping the DEPB scheme. Even the comments of Subramanium were on the same line. However, for the time being we are now relieved that the scheme is likely to have a longer life," he said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
