The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) in association with Knowledge Partner Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys, organized a webinar on “Bonded Warehouse: Analysis and Comparison with other export promotion schemes” on Friday, 21st May 2021.
Eminent speakers Mr. T. Viswanathan – Country Head (Customs Division), Mr. Ratan Jain – Partner, Mr. Saurabh Malpani – Principal Associate of Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys were invited to brief on Special Warehouse manufacturing scheme for Gems and Jewellery Sector. Webinar was moderated by Convener MSME, Shri. Manish Jivani.
Ideas were exchanged by panelists and also points to be represented to the government regarding the special warehousing scheme to be implemented for the Gem and Jewellery sector were also discussed.
The webinar was attended by more than 163 attendees and several queries by attendees were answered during the session.
Attendees were briefed on below mentioned topics:
- Existing Duty Remission/Exemption schemes under Foreign Trade Policy and SEZ laws
- Import Policy of Gold and Silver
- What is a “Warehouse” under Customs Act 1962. Duty deferment benefit under warehousing model.
- Meaning of Special warehouse which is a type of custom warehouse for storage of precious metals.
- In depth analysis of manufacturing in Special Warehouse scheme which specifically allows gems and jewellery industry to do manufacturing in special warehouse.
- New special warehouse manufacturing regulations/circular issued in August 2020 were discussed in detail. Duty implications under special warehousing model was discussed. To summarize, Import duty on goods used for export is exempted/remitted. Import duty on goods used domestic market sales is paid with no interest liability at the time of clearance.
- Significant Features of Special Warehousing scheme were discussed like No minimum investment, no minimum area, no export obligation/commitment, no timeline for making exports, Easy conversion of existing facility into special warehouse, etc.
- Requirements at the time of application for special warehouse were discussed like submission of triple duty bond, security, insurance policy, undertaking, Secure premises etc.
- Opportunities and Challenges under special warehouse scheme were discussed in detail
- Various points on which representation to the government from GJEPC is required were discussed. Such as, procedure for import of precious metal in the special warehouse from outside India, permissibility of job work in special warehouse, applicability of value addition and wastage norms for Manufacturing in special warehouse, benefits on domestic procurements, etc.
- Industry was recommended to do Analysis between various schemes based on their factual position.
Webinar ended with the vote of thanks to Convener MSME and the Speakers of the session.