Govt. planning to revamp the DoC

In a bid to revamp of the Department of Commerce, the Government is contemplating the idea of bringing Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) and Advance Authorisation Scheme, within the ambit of the drawback committee under the revenue department. Currently, the Advance Authorisation Scheme is being managed by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), an arm of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI).

 This discussion between MOCI and the Finance Ministry is aimed at administrative restructuring to boost exports and domestic manufacturing.  It comes at a time when there’s a 0.37% decline in outward shipments in April-July to US$ 107.41 billion, while imports contracted by 3.63% to US$ 166.8 billion.

 Biswajit Dhar, professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, stated, “Any such move will only pit ministries against each other because while the finance ministry looks at revenue foregone, export targets and exporters’ concerns are the commerce department’s responsibility.”