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The commerce ministry has decided to extend export benefits under the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme for companies in the special economic zones (SEZs) and export-oriented units (EOUs). This decision was communicated to the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on February 16, 2024. The DGFT may issue a formal notification soon amending the foreign trade policy on the same. In August 2021, the government announced the rates of tax refunds under export promotion scheme -- RoDTEP, for 8,555 products such as marine goods, yarn and dairy items.

As SEZs and EOUs were kept out of the scheme in the list notified that time, the industry was demanding to include them in the scheme. Under RoDTEP, various central and state duties, taxes, and levies imposed on input products, among others, are refunded to exporters. The current RoDTEP rates are in the range of 0.3 per cent to 4.3 per cent. The primary goal of RoDTEP is to refund taxes and duties that are not rebated under any other scheme. This includes various central, state, and local duties/taxes/levies that are incurred in the process of manufacturing and distribution of exported products but are not refunded through schemes like GST (Goods and Services Tax) or Duty Drawback scheme.

RoDTEP does not include all exports. Exports under certain categories are currently excluded from RoDTEP benefits and that includes products exported from SEZs, EOUs, Electronic Hardware Technology Parks (EHTP), Biotechnology Parks (BTP), and Customs bonded warehouses; exports under Advance Authorisation (which allows duty-free imports of inputs for export production); re-exported imported goods. The list also includes exports subjected to minimum export price or export duty; restricted export or import products; and supplies from Domestic Tariff Areas (DTAs) to SEZ/Free Trade and Warehousing Zones (FTWZ) units.