The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), on July 3, 2026, issued a clarification regarding the grant of drawback under Section 74 and refund under Section 27 of the Customs Act, 1962 in cases where import duty has been paid, wholly or partly, through Duty Credit Scrips. The circular seeks to ensure uniform implementation across Customs formations in view of divergent practices and observations made by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG).
The Board has clarified that where customs duty has been discharged using RoDTEP or RoSCTL duty credit scrips, any admissible drawback or refund shall be granted by way of re-credit to the importer's electronic credit ledger and not in cash. The re-credited amount may subsequently be used for generation of e-scrips in accordance with the existing framework. A dedicated module for this purpose is being developed in the Customs Automated System (CAS), and a separate advisory will be issued upon its implementation.
Further, in cases involving legacy schemes such as MEIS and SEIS, where electronic re-credit is not feasible, Customs authorities shall issue a re-credit certificate to enable revalidation of the duty credit scrip by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). The certificate shall contain details of the utilised scrip, import transaction, and duty debited at the time of import.
[Circular No. 30/2026-Customs]
