SEIS

SEIS

DEFINITION

The Government of India introduced the Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS), under the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) – 2015-20, replacing the earlier scheme ‘Served from India Scheme’ under Foreign Trade Policy, 2009-15. The main objective of SEIS is to make the services of India very competitive globally in terms of price. Under SEIS, services providers of notified services are incentivized in the form of duty credit scrips at the rate of 3 or 5% on their net foreign exchange earnings. These SEIS scrips are fully transferrable. They can be used for payment of a number of central duties and taxes which also includes basic customs duty.

The service exports from India scheme (SEIS), wants to promote export of services from India , by giving duty scrip credit for eligible exports. Under this scheme, service providers that are located in India will be rewarded under the SEIS scheme, for all eligible export of  their services from India.

NATURE OF INCENTIVE:

DUTY CREDIT SCRIP

The duty credit scrip is a document, that permits the entitled holder to pay import custom duties which have been levied on the import of various services and goods. The SEIS incentives are provided in the form of duty credit scrip. This document is also known as the SEIS scrip or SEIS license. These duty-free scrips are issued by the government, and the department that issues them is the DGFT. These SEIS Scrips are “Freely Transferable” in nature. This means if the scrip holder does not import anything, he or she can sell this SEIS scrip/license in the open market at a premium rate. The service providers of eligible services will be entitled to duty credit scrip at notified rates on the net foreign exchange that has been earned. The duty credit scrips can be utilized for the payment of custom duties/excise duties/GST on procurement of services. It can also be utilised to pay custom duty in the case of default in fulfilment of export obligation under Advance Authorization/EPCG, etc. A duty credit scrip is valid for a period of 24 months from the date of issue.

SERVICE EXPORT FROM INDIA SCHEME (SEIS) RATE OF REWARD

The below mentioned services and rates of rewards were applicable for services export made between 1-4-2015 to 30-09-2015:

  • Professional Services – 5% Rate of Reward
  • All legal services
  • All accounting/auditing/bookkeeping services
  • All types of taxation services
  • All types of architectural services
  • All types of engineering services
  • Integrated engineering services
  • Urban planning and landscape architectural services
  • Medical and dental services
  • All veterinary services
  • All services that are provided by midwives/nurses/physiotherapists/paramedical personnel
  • Research and Development Services – 5% Rate of Reward
  • Research and development services on natural sciences
  • Research and development services on social sciences and humanities
  • All types of interdisciplinary R&D services
  • Rental/Leasing Services without Operators – 5% Rate of Reward
  • Services related to ships
  • Services related to aircraft
  • Services related to other transport equipment
  • Services related to other machinery and equipment
  • Audiovisual Services – 5% Rate of Reward
  • Services related to motion picture and videotape production and distribution service
  • All motion picture projection services
  • All radio and television services
  • All radio and television transmission services
  • Sound recordings
  • Construction and Related Engineering Services – 5% Rate of Reward
  • General construction work for building
  • General construction work for civil engineering
  • Installation and assembly work
  • Building completion and finishing work
  • Educational Services – 5% Rate of Reward
  • All primary education services
  • All secondary education services
  • All higher education services
  • Adult education
  • Environmental Services – 5% Rate of Reward
  • All sewage services
  • All refuse disposal services
  • All sanitation and similar services
  • Health and Social Services – 5% Rate of Reward
  • All hospital services
  • Tourism and Travel Services – 3% or 5% Rate of Reward
  • All hotels (3% Rate of Reward)
  • All restaurants (3% Rate of Reward)
  • All travel agencies and tour operator services (5% Rate of Reward)
  • All tourist guides services (5% Rate of Reward)
  • Recreational, Cultural and Sporting Services – 5% Rate of Reward
  • All entertainment services (including theatre, live bands and circus services)
  • All news agency services
  • Libraries, archives, museums and any other cultural services
  • All sporting and other recreational services
  • Transport & Auxiliary Services – 5% Rate of Reward
  • All forms of passenger transportation
  • All forms of freight transportation
  • The rental of vessels with crew
  • The maintenance and repair of vessels
  • All pushing and towing services
  • All supporting services for maritime transport
  • The rental of aircraft with crew
  • The maintenance and repair of aircraft
  • All airport operations and ground handling
  • The rental of commercial vehicles with the operator
  • The maintenance and repair of road transport equipment
  • All supporting services for road transport services
  • All cargo-handling services
  • All storage and warehouse services
  • All freight transport agency services
  • Other Business Services – 3% Rate of Reward
  • All advertising services
  • All market research and public opinion polling services
  • Management consulting services
  • All services related to management consulting
  • All the technical testing and analysis services
  • All services incidental to agricultural, hunting and forestry
  • All services incidental to fishing
  • All the services incidental to mining
  • All the services incidental to manufacturing
  • All the services incidental to energy distribution
  • All the placement and supply services of personnel
  • Investigation and security services