Overview
- India’s revenue authority, which on Wednesday notified the change, opened a one-time window from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027 for Special Economic Zone factories to sell into the domestic market at lower customs duty.
- Only SEZ units that began production by March 31, 2025 qualify, goods must show at least 20% value addition, and discounted domestic sales cannot exceed 30% of the unit’s highest annual export value in the past three years.
- The relief trims basic duty bands on notified goods, for example 20% to 12.5% and 30–40% to 20%, excludes sensitive sectors and Free Trade Warehousing Zones, and runs through CBIC’s automated, faceless assessment system.
- Separately, the government extended the RoDTEP scheme through September 30, 2026 at existing rates, keeping refunds of unrebated central, state and local taxes on exports in place even as the programme operates within tight budget limits.
- The textiles ministry also prolonged RoSCTL for apparel and made-ups to September 30, 2026, while officials called the SEZ duty plan a one-time, temporary step and analysts warned the gains may be modest given small duty cuts, no IGST relief and sectoral exclusions.