clarification on duty drawback to SEZ units

[Sujit Pattanaik]

As per the sez rules, a sez unit can go for duty drawback claim for its supplies from DTA suppliers by getting a disclaimer certificate from the suppliers. As per the rule, I think there is a condition where this payment has to be made through its foreign currency account. As these are DTA suppliers, the regular process can be followed is paying them in INR however routing it through foreign currency account through banking challan. Which effectively means, the payment is made out of the earnings in foreign currency.

I am not very sure, whether there is any clarification on this subject from the ministry. I did not see any specific guidelines on this or in any of the BOA meeting minutes posted in the website.

Request you to let me know, whether there is any specific clarification on this subject or what is the normal practice followed across countries in all the SEZs.

I would request for your comments on this.

AI Summary

Duty drawback for SEZ units depends on payment routing through foreign currency accounts for DTA-sourced supplies. Whether Duty Drawback for SEZ units on supplies from DTA suppliers requires routing payment through the SEZ unit's foreign currency account (via banking challan) when the supplier furnishes a disclaimer certificate is the operative compliance issue; the document records uncertainty about ministerial clarification and requests information on prevailing SEZ practice and customs guidance regarding payment routing and traceability for drawback eligibility.