INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - March 1^st - March 15^th - 2008

TIGHTER DUTY DRAWBACK NORMS FROM APRIL 1

The department of revenue has decided to operationalise the bank realisation certificate (BRC) module, a software developed for monitoring realisation of export proceeds in respect of drawback shipping bills, from April 1. A draft circular outlining the features of the module, has been placed on the CBEC website (www.cbec.gov.in). The department has said suggestions on the proposed module should be sent to it before March 26.

The software has been designed to issue alerts against the shipping bills where the BRC/negative statement has not been furnished by the exporter within the prescribed date. Notices will be issued by the customs department to recover drawback paid on export consignments in respect of which export proceeds have not been realised.

Presently, the monitoring of realisation of export proceeds in respect of goods exported under the drawback scheme is being done on the basis of Export Outstanding Statement (XOS) received from the RBI. The XOS is a consolidated half-yearly statement giving details of all export bills outstanding beyond the period prescribed for realisation. However, following the issuance of RBI's instructions dispensing with submission of declarations for export of goods of value not exceeding $25,000, the department observed that a large number of export consignments fall outside the purview of monitoring mechanism through XOS. The new module will take care of all exports irrespective of value.