The Commerce Secretary, Government of India, Dr. Anup Wadhawan yesterday addressed the exporter community of Jaipur, along with Addl. Secretary, Shri Sanjay Chaddha, at an Open House session organised by Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).

Sabyasachi Ray, ED, GJEPC, put forward a number of requests on behalf of the gems and jewellery sector at the event. These included:

• Intervention for dropping of showcause proceedings initiated against exporters of Jaipur and Delhi demanding payment of IGST, interest and penalty where the goods were sent or taken out of India under claim for refund of integrated tax and were reimported without payment of IGST by availing exemption under the provisions of Notification no 45/2017.
• Taking up the matter with Air India regarding having a SPA with Emirates or Swiss Air so that duty free precious metal can be imported at Jaipur through nominated agencies like MMTC. Industry has faced difficulty in this regard since the closure of Jet Airways.
• Allowing SEZ units to let out or lease part or full unit which is not being utilised for production due to lack of orders, to any other unit.
• Facilitating e-commerce shipment through designated Air Cargo complexes from where gem and jewellery export is allowed. For this, a dedicated counter at FPO could be created at valuable clearing centres of Customs at different ports to enable faster clearance. Small value parcels having value upto US$ 800 should be processed on self-declaration basis in RMS.
• Implementation of proposal for Tax Refund to Tourists.

Dr. Wadhawan also advised the exporters to continue to collect data for RODTEP for a reasonable period of time, as this will give a representative picture of each product being exported from India which will help in finalizing the benefit to be given under the scheme.