Govt says tech glitches led to piling up of export refunds, assures steps

The government said that technical glitches have led to export refunds piling up and assured exporters that steps are being taken to fix the problem, EEPC said in a statement today.

Delays in Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds to exporters are attributed to technical glitches in GSTN, which are being corrected, but the government is committed to refunding zero rated export goods with the minimal of human interface, senior finance ministry officials told a high-level delegation of the EEPC India.

Chairman of EEPC, the apex engineering exporters' organisation, T S Bhasin, and vice chairman Pankaj Chadha met senior finance ministry officials last week, apprising them of grave situation of cash crunch arising out of delays in the exporters' refunds, after implementation of the GST, the statement added.

Bhasin conveyed exporters' concern over the accumulating refunds and shortage of working capital for the exporting community, which led to fall in exports. The export data for October showed subdued figures.

Finance ministry officials reiterated that the government is committed to refund zero rated goods and "will do everything "in this direction.

The government is also keen to ensure that there is minimal human interface and technical glitches are being corrected. In the process, however, delays are occurring in clearance of the refunds.

It emerged in the meeting how errors in the shipping bills are resulting in the refund settlement and exporters are asked for claiming re-credit. But in the process, precious time is lost as for instance, for July , the re-credit would be paid along with August claims and thus the refunds kept on accumulating.

The council pointed out that lately drawback payment has stopped in some cities. The Finance Ministry officials said the issue is being resolved.

Some ports have also issued documents showing errors in the mis-match of data for month of July 2017. The officials assured the EEPC India team that the issue would be resolved.