Exporters will now be entitled to refund of service taxes paid on seven services, instead of four allowed earlier, a finance ministry statement issued here said.
The new services included in the scheme are general insurance, technical testing and analysis, and inspection and certification. Last month, the Centre had announced exempting services rendered by ports, road transport and railways from the purview of tax for export purposes.
“Government has been monitoring the situation arising out of the appreciation of rupee. The strengthening of the rupee is a reflection, in part, of the growing strength of the economy and has positive economic benefits by way of cheaper imports and subdued impact on prices,’’ the statement said. However, the rapid appreciation of rupee in recent weeks has adversely affected exporters who had contracted export orders earlier, it added.
Earlier in July, the government had provided financial relief to the tune of Rs 1,400 crore in the form of accelerated reimbursement of dues to exporters, reduction in interest rate on pre-shipment and post-shipment credit, and revision in drawback rates and DEPB rates.