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RoDTEP stands for Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products. It is India’s flagship export remission scheme: it gives back the embedded central, state and local duties and taxes that an exported product carried but that no other mechanism refunds. The refund does not arrive as cash. It arrives as a transferable duty credit scrip that pays basic customs duty.
In one line: RoDTEP turns non-creditable embedded taxes on your exports into a customs credit you can either spend on your own imports or sell for cash.

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What RoDTEP actually remits

Most taxes on an exporter’s inputs are already handled: GST is credited or refunded, import duty on inputs can be drawn back. RoDTEP covers what is left over, the taxes that fall outside those chains, such as:
  • VAT and excise on the fuel used in transporting the goods,
  • electricity duty on power consumed in manufacturing,
  • mandi tax and other local levies on agricultural inputs,
  • stamp duty on export documents,
  • embedded central and state taxes on inputs consumed in production.
Because it remits taxes rather than granting an incentive on top of them, RoDTEP is structured to sit inside India’s WTO commitments. It replaced the earlier MEIS incentive and applies to exports made from 1 January 2021 onward.

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Who administers it

Two arms of government split the work, and it is worth knowing which one owns which question: So a question about “what rate does my product get” is a DGFT question. A question about “where is my scrip and can I move it” is an ICEGATE question. See Scrip transfer on ICEGATE explained.

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How the rate is set

RoDTEP rates are notified against 8-digit HS codes in the scheme appendix under the Foreign Trade Policy. Each line gives:
  • a rate as a percentage of FOB value of the exported goods, and
  • in many cases a per-unit value cap, an absolute rupee ceiling per unit of quantity.
The credit for a shipment is the lower of the two: rate multiplied by FOB, capped at the per-unit ceiling multiplied by quantity. Rates are revised by notification, so the rate that applies is the one in force on the date of export, not the one you read last year. Some categories sit outside the scheme entirely. Exports from certain zones, re-exports, goods that are prohibited or restricted, and products already covered by another remission scheme are common exclusions. Apparel and made-ups, for example, are largely covered by RoSCTL instead.

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From shipping bill to scrip

1

Claim on the shipping bill

The exporter declares the RoDTEP claim at the time of filing the shipping bill. This is the step that cannot be fixed later. A shipping bill filed without the claim declaration does not generate a credit.
2

Export and EGM

The goods leave and the Export General Manifest is filed. Customs processing of the claim follows from the filed and closed shipping bill.
3

Scroll generation

Customs generates a RoDTEP scroll for the eligible shipping bills. The scroll is the sanctioned amount, visible to the exporter in the ICEGATE e-scrip ledger, but it is not yet a scrip.
4

Scrip creation

The exporter, from its own ICEGATE account, converts scrolled amounts into an e-scrip. The scrip is created in the ledger with a scrip number, a face value in rupees, and a validity date. From that moment it is a real instrument: usable, transferable, and expiring.
A scrolled amount that is never converted into a scrip is not a scrip. Exporters routinely discover unconverted scroll balances sitting in the ledger. Convert first, then decide whether to use or sell.

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What the scrip can be used for

A RoDTEP e-scrip pays basic customs duty on imports. It does not pay IGST on imports, and it does not pay most cesses and surcharges. That is the single most important practical limit, and it is what shapes the market: an importer’s usable demand is sized by its BCD bill, not its total customs bill. A scrip is used by quoting it against duty payable when the Bill of Entry is filed. See How to buy duty credit scrips.

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What it is worth

Face value is the duty-paying power in rupees. Market value is lower, because a buyer only pays cash today for a credit it will spend later. The gap is the discount, quoted as a percentage of face. See Duty credit scrip price and discount rate explained for what moves it, and the public Scrip Reference Rate for the current benchmark.

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RoDTEP compared with the alternatives

Drawback and RoDTEP can both apply to the same shipment on different heads. They are not alternatives to choose between.

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Frequently asked questions

Yes. A RoDTEP e-scrip can be transferred to another party holding a valid IEC and registered on ICEGATE. Under the electronic scrip framework the transfer is permitted once, from the original owner to one transferee. See Scrip transfer on ICEGATE explained.
Duty credit scrips fall under HSN 4907 and are exempt from GST under Notification 02/2017. There is no GST on the scrip value in a sale, which is why a ScripX quote carries one all-in number with nothing bolted on afterwards.
Under the e-scrip framework a scrip is valid for one year from the date it is created in the ledger. Transferring it does not extend that date. See Scrip validity and expiry.
No. The claim declaration is made at shipping-bill filing and is not retrofittable afterwards. This is the most common reason an eligible export produces no credit.
No. It pays basic customs duty. IGST and most cesses are outside its scope.
Rates, eligibility and procedural detail are set by notification and change. Treat DGFT and CBIC as the primary sources for anything you rely on commercially.