In simple words, Service exports mean providing Services to Foreign Clients and receiving remuneration in freely convertible Foreign Currency.

Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS Scheme) is a subsidy Scheme introduced by the Government of India to incentivize Service Exporters located in India. Its primary purpose is to encourage and maximize the export of notified/selected Services from India. The Service Exporters providing eligible Services are entitled to 3% / 5% / 7% Incentive of the Net Foreign exchange earned in the form of Duty Credit Scrips.

In two ways, the Exporter can export, i.e., Export of Goods and Export of Services. From the Government’s point of view, both are equal because both ways generate employment and bring valuable foreign exchange for our nation.  Therefore, it is necessary to encourage and maximize the export of both goods and Services. Hence Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) is an Incentive Scheme for the export of goods, whereas Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) is an Incentive Scheme for the export of Services.

SEIS Scheme was introduced on 1st April 2015 and is valid for 5 Years till 2020.

The Service Exporter has to confirm that the Service he is providing is eligible to claim or not. If his Service is as per Appendix 3D, he has to file online application form ANF 3B with Digital Signature and need to upload the above mentioned relevant documents to claim SEIS benefits.

No, only the Service mentioned in Appendix 3D is eligible to claim SEIS Incentives.

In the SEIS Scheme, Net Foreign Exchange can be defined as below-
Net Foreign Exchange= Gross Earning of Foreign Exchange – Total Expenses / Payment / Remittance of Foreign Exchange for the financial year.

Yes, it is compulsory to have Import Export Code to claim SEIS benefit. In this, there are No relaxations.

Yes, however, not all Services. A list of such eligible Services where payment received in INR is eligible to claim SEIS are listed in Appendix 3E.

Expenses for SEIS claim include bank charges, GST on bank charges, tax deduction by a foreign party, all the other expenses incurred in USD to render the notified Service.

ANF 3B (Aayat Niryat form) is the Application form for applying under Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS Scheme). An application in the form of ANF 3B with all necessary documents should be submitted to the jurisdictional DGFT Office for Claiming SEIS benefits. DGFT had issued a revised ANF 3B form on 28th June 2018.

ANF 3B (Aayat Niryat form) has the provision to include all the Services which the applicant is rendering.

Yes, the Registration cum Membership Certificate (RCMC) is mandatory for the SEIS Scheme.

Service Export Promotion Council (SEPC) is an export promotion council under Commerce Ministry which has been given the task to increase service exports from India. If an IEC Holder is both Service Exporter and Goods Exporter and its primary line of business is manufacturing/trading and exporting goods, RCMC from any relevant Export Promotion Council can be submitted. SEPC membership is not compulsory in this case. However, if an IEC Holder is purely into Service Export Business, then SEPC
Membership is compulsory.

For one FY, only one application is possible. So make sure to include all the Invoices raised in the applied financial year while filing the claim.

Yes. If the claim was not filed as per proper guidelines, or in case of misdeclaration. Some applications on a random basis may be opened by the DGFT audit team within three years from the issue of license.
This reopening of scrips shows that the SEIS Scheme can be quite conflicting. One needs to have a full understanding of the government incentives under it, its eligibility criteria, and more. To do so, you can seek help from our in-house experts by contacting us.

SEIS scheme is eligible for certain services only. The list of Eligible Services
mentioned by the government is in Appendix 3D.

For claiming SEIS benefit, the fee is Rs. 1000 per application.

It takes 30 days from the date of application. Only if DGFT is satisfied with all the documents. The Exporter can take help from our experts to get the scrips within time.

Last date of filing SEIS claim is 12 months from the end of the FY. If you apply after the 12 months period, DGFT will issue SEIS license with applicable late-cut.

Yes, The Eligible Service Provider can apply for Preceding three financial year, i.e., The current Financial year is 2020-2021 then; he can apply for FY 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20. But for filling for the financial year, 2017-18 and 2018-19 late cut will be applicable.

There is no clear information about it from the DGFT till date. SEIS is allowed till FY 2019-20. For FY 2020-21 the DGFT is yet to take a decision on continuity of SEIS.

Earlier Service Export from India Scheme (SEIS) was named as Served From India Scheme (SFIS) and valid for the financial year 2009-2014. In this SFIS Scheme, the duty script issued was Non- Transferable.

In the SEIS Scheme, the duty scrip issued as a benefit against the Service export is called a SEIS License.

In two ways, the Exporter can utilize the Scrips. Either to pay import duty, i.e. Basic Custom Duty while importing anything. Or he can sell the credit and Encash it. For selling, you need to transfer the credit online on the DGFT website and raise an Invoice for the party to make the payment to you.

SEIS License is issued by DGFT and used at Customs. Hence Customs authority need to verify it to check its genuineness. SEIS License registration procedure is done at customs where Exporter needs to provide an issued license to the custom, and after verification, it can be used for waiver of duty. We can help in registering the SEIS License at Customs within 2-3 Working Days.

Yes, It is mandatory to register for a SEIS license at Customs to verify the genuineness of License /scrip from DGFT.

Yes, we can Transfer SEIS License Online with DSC.

Yes, we can sell the SEIS License to Importer if the Exporter does not want to use it in import.

We, A V International, have a team to handle the sale of MEIS and SEIS License, and we give our clients the best-selling rate.

No, GST does not apply to the sale of SEIS License.

No, SEIS license can be used for payment of Basic Customs Duty only; not IGST

The Exporter can Transfer the SEIS scrip online by DSC

The validity of the SEIS Duty Credit Scrip is of 24 months from the issue of License.

The SEIS Scrip should be utilized within the validity period, the Scrip can be considered as a Piece of Paper once the Validity gets expired and Revalidation of the Scrip shall not be permitted under the SEIS Scheme unless it has expired in the custody of any Govt. Authority.