As we wrote in our last article dt. June 13, there have been many pitfalls and also loose ends in the way the applications for Service Exports Incentive Scheme (SEIS) were being filed. Many service exporters were filing applications without proper knowledge of the category their services would fall in, arbitrarily choosing the category.

This was leading to the situation that anyone who had some foreign exchange income were trying to claim the SEIS benefit without getting into the details of the definition of the service as per CPC provided under the GATS.

Govt through PN 15 dt 28.06.2018 has revised the application form for SEIS and tried to plug some of the loose ends. For instance, now a description of services rendered will also have to be mentioned in the form. Also required are copies of invoices of the services, especially if the description of the services mentioned here is different from that described in the list of services eligible as per 3D/3E. Further, a write-up on the services and the justification of its eligibility as per CPC would be required.

A lot of responsibility and liability has been put on the companies and the signatories to the application. A thorough understanding of FTP and CPC is required to be able to understand and endorse the category of services and their eligibility.

As a general practice, Andees has been thoroughly checking all the invoices and eligibility of the service as per the relevant CPC for all the applications filed by it. The justification of the eligibility was kept, even if it was required under the form. This was to ensure that in case of any query our clients are ready to answer all the queries.

To sensitize the industry and the professional community, Andees is planning a workshop on the SEIS and other benefits under Foreign Trade Policy for Service Exporters.