Handicraft exporters will be observing nationwide memorandum day tomorrow on 1 September so as to attract Government’s concerns regarding higher Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) rates.
The handicrafts exporters, at various clusters, will submit a Memorandum to their Member of Parliament from the region, Mayor, District Magistrate, etc. to forward their demand to the Government of India.
In a statement, Raj Kumar Malhotra, Chairman, EPCH said that, “The RoDTEP rates, which were keenly awaited, were not as per the expectations of the handicrafts exporters as the sector was expecting comparable rates (5 to 7 per cent) with MEIS scheme; the rates offered are in the range of 0.01 per cent to 2.4 per cent for the handicrafts sector. We have already represented for enhancing of rates to the Finance Minister as well as to the Textiles, Commerce & Industry Minister.”
Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Director General-EPCH, said, “The Government has urged the exporters to put in additional efforts to achieve the overall export target of US $ 400 billion in the year 2021-22 and EPCH is committed towards achieving its share of exports in India’s total exports.”
He added “Handicrafts sector being the cottage sector of the Indian economy provides employment to over 7 million artisans including women folk and weaker sections of the society. Despite the pandemic, the sector has been able to register a marginal growth of 1.62 per cent and stands at Rs. 25,679 crore in the year 2020-21, which is a testament to the hard work and efforts put in by the handicrafts exporters in achieving growth despite all odds.”
The RoDTEP scheme would refund to exporters the embedded Central, State and local duties/taxes that were so far not being rebated/refunded and were, therefore, placing our exports at a disadvantage. The refund would be credited in an exporter’s ledger account with Customs and used to pay basic customs duty on imported goods. The credits can also be transferred to other importers.