India decides to stop tax incentive scheme for exports

NEW DELHI: The Indian government has decided to end a tax incentive scheme for exporters on June 30, the country's revenue secretary said on Wednesday, adding that the export industry was doing well and needed no incentives.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Sunil Mitra also said the government faced an estimated annual loss of 80 billion rupees ($1.77 billion) from the programme, called the Duty Entitlement Pass Book scheme.

The DEPB scheme is a tax incentive scheme for exporters under which the government reimburses about $1.8 billion a year to exporters on taxes paid on imported supplies.