NITI Aayog to Review India's Export Support Schemes
NITI Aayog is reviewing India's export support schemes, mainly the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) and the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL), as global trade rules and tariffs keep changing.
The review will study how these schemes affect domestic demand, supply and prices, and will compare India's approach with similar export support schemes used by other countries.
The review comes at a time when several countries, including India's major trading partners, are raising tariffs and reshaping trade rules, making it important to check whether India's existing export support still works well and stays within global trade rules.
Both RoDTEP and RoSCTL are currently in force until 30 September 2026, so any changes from this review would likely feed into what comes next for these schemes.
RoDTEP Scheme: Design, Objectives, and WTO Compliance
RoDTEP stands for Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products. It is a scheme through which the Indian government gives back to exporters the hidden taxes and duties they already paid while making a product, but which normal export benefit schemes do not refund. The idea is simple: a country should not "export its taxes" along with its goods, because that makes the goods costlier and less competitive abroad.
NITI Aayog's review directly concerns RoDTEP and RoSCTL, the two main schemes discussed above, and will look at how they affect prices and supply in the domestic economy while checking how India's approach compares with other countries, feeding into decisions on these schemes as their current validity period nears its end on 30 September 2026.
WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM Agreement)
The Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, usually called the SCM Agreement, is one of the World Trade Organization's core rulebooks. It decides which kinds of government financial support (subsidies) to companies are allowed in international trade, which are restricted, and what an affected country can do if another country's subsidy harms its industry.
India's move away from MEIS to RoDTEP was driven directly by SCM Agreement rules and the DS541 dispute outcome. NITI Aayog's current review of export support schemes is happening precisely because India must keep its export incentives compliant with these WTO subsidy rules while still helping exporters cope with a changing global trade order, including new tariff actions by trading partners.
- RoDTEP effective since 1 January 2021, replacing MEIS after WTO dispute DS541
- RoDTEP refund rates: about 0.3% to 4.3% of FOB export value
- RoDTEP FY26 (2026-27) budget allocation: about ₹18,233 crore
- RoSCTL in force since 7 March 2019, for apparel and made-up textile exports (Chapters 61-63)
- Both RoDTEP and RoSCTL currently valid through 30 September 2026
- SCM Agreement export-competitiveness threshold: 3.25% of world trade in a product for two consecutive years
- India's CVD investigations conducted by DGTR under Section 9 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975