Question : Merchandise Exports from India Scheme

(a) whether the Government has widened the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS) recently;
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the items now covered under MEIS and the extent to which this is likely to help in pushing Indian exports;
(c) the details of the experience of widening the MEIS earlier in October, 2015 and May, 2016;
(d) whether there are any plans to increase the export duty credit scrip from 3% to 6% to give more fillip to exports and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
(e) whether the Government is also implementing any scheme called Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) for promoting exports of services and if so, the salient features of the said scheme indicating the sectors covered thereunder?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)
(SMT. NIRMALA SITHARAMAN)

(a)&(b): On announcement of Foreign Trade Policy on 1 April, 2015, 4914 products at 8 digit Harmonised Codes (HS Codes) were covered under Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS). Since then, the coverage has been widened adding 3000 products thereby covering a total of 7914 products at present. These lists of items are available at the website link dgft.gov.in
The review of MEIS was intended to boost India’s export performance. MEIS covers all the countries now. Since there is no distinction among countries/regions now, the proof of landing has been dispensed with, there by simplifying procedure and reducing transaction cost.
(c): Exports have shown some revival during the last two months. During October, 2016, exports have shown a positive growth of 9.59% in dollar terms (12.43% higher in Rupee term) compared to October, 2015

(d): At present, the MEIS is available at varying rates of 2- 5 % depending on the export products. There is no proposal under consideration to increase the incentive to 6% as the available resources have been fully allocated during this fiscal year.

(e): For service sector, the Government has introduced the Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) w.e.f. 01.04.2015 under which the service providers of notified services are incentivised in the form of duty credit scrips in the range of 3-5 % on their net foreign exchange earned. These SEIS scrips are transferrable and can also be used for payment of a number of Central duties/taxes including the basic customs duty. The services covered under the scheme falls under nine broad sectors which are the following:

• Business services
• Communication services
• Construction and related engineering services
• Educational services
• Environmental services
• Health related and social services
• Tourism and travel related services
• Recreational, cultural and sporting services
• Transport service

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