Govt forgoes 80% of customs duty

NEW DELHI: The Union Government has forgone a whopping Rs 39,704 crore of duty under export promotion schemes during 2003-04, accounting for 82 per cent of customs duty collected in that year, a CAG report has said.

The duty was forgone under schemes relating to advance licence, duty exemption pass book (DEPB), export promotion capital goods (EPCG), export promotion zones (EPZ), export oriented units (EOUs) and refund of under drawback and other schemes, the report said.

The sum of duty forgone shot up during 2003-04 from Rs 27,765 crore and Rs 24,799 crore during the previous two fiscal years, each constituting 62 per cent of customs duty collected in the respective years, the report, tabled in Parliament, said.

As much as Rs 20,705 crore of duty was forgone during 2000-01, accounting for 43 per cent of customs duty collected, it said.

The relative importance of export promotion schemes underwent some changes in 2003-04 compared to the previous fiscal.

DEPB and advance license schemes remained the biggest schemes but they changed their position of importance in these two years.

While the highest sum of duty was forgone under DEPB scheme in 2003-04 at Rs 11,692 crore, constituting 29.44 per cent of the total duty forgone, it was advance license and others scheme which occupied the top slot in 2002-03 at Rs 7,462 crore, accounting for 26.87 per cent of the total.