Suresh Prabhu urges commerce ministry to address issues of service exporters

Former Union minister Suresh Prabhu has requested the commerce ministry to address the concerns of service exporters as the sectors helps in containing the country's trade deficit.

In a letter to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Prabhu said the service exporters have informed that the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) had promised to issue notification for the year 2019-20 on March 31, 2020, but no such notification has been issued so far.

As per the Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20), only two months are left for claiming SEIS benefits for the year 2019-20, according to the letter dated January 21, 2021.

"....it is requested that the concerns of the services exporters may be looked into and suitable action may be taken to address their grievances," Prabhu said.

He added that the Indian market is still import dominated and the Government of India has been promoting exports to reduce trade deficit, and it is unlikely to remove any export incentive schemes in the coming years.

The Foreign Trade Policy provides tax incentives under the Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) to several services industries.

Depending on the nature of services, the government gives duty credit scrips or certificates. The scheme offers reward at five per cent or seven per cent of the net foreign exchange earned and covers service providers located in India.

Services exports during April-November 2020-21 stood at $130.37 billion.