Govt looks to revamp key exports incentive scheme for services sector

The government of India is looking to revamp a key exports incentive scheme for the services sector. The proposed revamp could see some widening of the scheme to bring in more beneficiaries and sectors, said an official.

The Service Export from India Scheme (SEIS) covers nine broad sectors, including business services, communication, construction and tourism. SEIS was launched in 2015 to boost services exports. It offers incentives of 5-7% of net foreign exchange earned.

“We are looking at a new form of SEIS and what could be the upper limits, new beneficiaries and new services to be included in the scheme,” said the official.

Under the scheme, benefit is extended in the form of duty credit scrip which enables the holder to import all goods which are freely importable without payment of basic customs duty. The scrip and the goods imported against the scrip are freely transferable.

“There are talks of capping the incentive under the scheme due to limited budget and the government does not want only the big players to benefit,” said an industry representative.