The Ministry of Commerce and Industry vide Notification No. 30/2015-2020 dated September 1, 2020 has made following decisions regarding Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (‘MEIS’):

• MEIS benefit will be withdrawn from January 2021.

• For exports made between September to December 2020, MEIS benefit will be restricted to Rs. 2 crores per Import Export Code (‘IEC’). This amount may further be reduced if claims of all exporters during this period exceed Rs. 5,000 crores.

• The following exporters will not be eligible for MEIS benefit for exports made between September to December 2020:

            –  Exporters who did not export any goods during September 2019 to August 2020 (last 1 year)

            –  Exporters who obtained IEC post September 2020

NITYA Comments:

 Withdrawal of MEIS from January 2021 is aligned with new export incentive scheme, namely Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products Scheme approved by Central Government on March 13, 2020. For details refer our update NITYA Insight | Issue 103 | Cabinet approves new export incentive scheme – Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products.

The aforesaid restrictions on MEIS are regressive considering that exporters are already facing tough times due to COVID-19 situation.

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