Service Export From India Scheme (SEIS) - Get 5-7% rebate on Service exports

The SEIS or the Service Export from India Scheme, under the Foreign Trade Policy of India, was launched with the primary aim to issue various rewards to the exporters to neutralize the infrastructural inefficiencies and other related costs. It was done to bolster the export of notified services in India. It was earlier known as the Served from India Scheme or SFIS.

Nature of Rewards under SEIS

The benefits or rewards under the SEIS are in the form of Duty Credit Scrips, the issuance of which rests on the notified criteria mentioned in Appendix 3D on the net foreign exchange earnings. These rates generally fall in the range of 5% to 7% on the notified services. In case the provider of services is involved in more than one service, he is supposed to label the services as per Appendix 3Dand then ask for the benefits accordingly. Here, one has to keep in mind that the amount which has been realized against the services is only eligible for Duty Credit Scrips.

SEIS Eligibility Criteria

Only the services which are rendered as per the guidelines stated in the Para 9.51 (i) and 9.51 (ii) of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020 are the services eligible for SEIS

• Mode 1- Cross Border Trade: Para 9.51 (i) – Supply of service from India to any other country.
• Mode 2- Consumption Abroad: Para 9.51 (ii) –Supply of service from India to the service consumer of any other country in India.

A net of US $15,000 as a bare minimum ‘net foreign exchange earnings’ in the same year of providing service are mandatory for the service provider for being eligible for Duty Credit Scrips. On the other hand, a minimum of US $ 10,000 as the minimum ‘net foreign exchange earnings’ again in the same year of providing the service is needed for an individual service provider or a sole proprietorship to be eligible for the Duty Credit Scrip.

In any case, an active IEC is a must while providing services against which the rewards are being claimed.

Ineligibility Criteria under SEIS

Any kind of foreign exchange remittance which is different than the ones which have been earned for providing the notified service is not eligible under SEIS. Likewise, even other sources of the foreign exchange earnings like equity or debt participation, receipts of loan repayments, donations,etc. which are not linked to the provision of services are not eligible under the SEIS.

To know more about SEIS in detail which includes in-dept information about eligibility criteria, the services included under SEIS scheme, benefits under SEIS and a Case Study, Read our Article "All about Service Exports Form India Scheme (SEIS)"

List of Services eligible under Service Export from India Scheme (SEIS)

• Legal Services: These services involve different types of legal and representation services in different fields of law.

1. Legal advisory and representation services concerning criminal law: This deals with all the legal advice and representation services which take place during the litigation process in addition to the drafting of the legal documentation in relation to the criminal law. This basically means defending your client after a criminal offense before a judicial body. It may also involve acting as a prosecutor in the case of criminal offense when private and legal practitioners are paid by the government on a fee basis. Another point to note is that it involves both pleadings of a case in court and out of court legal work comprising research and preparation work involved in a criminal case like researching the legal documentation, conducting interviews for witnesses, review of various police and other kinds of reports, etc.
2. Legal advisory and representation services in judicial procedures concerning other fields of law: During the litigation, all the advisory,and representation legal services, drafting services of legal documentation relating to the law which is different than criminal law. Representation services mainly cover prosecutor services on behalf of the client or defense of the client from prosecution. Both pleading of a case in court and also out-of-court legal work namely legal documentation research, interviewing witnesses, review of various police and other kinds of reports, etc. are included. In addition, the execution of all the post-litigation work related to law and criminal law also falls under this.
3. Legal advisory and representation services in statutory procedures of quasi-judicial tribunals, boards, etc.: This comprises all the advisory and representation under a legal umbrella in addition to the drafting of legal documentation in relation to various statutory procedures. This basically means representing a client before a statutory body like an administrative tribunal. Pleading a case before authorized bodies and other types of judicial courts are included. Also various other types of legal works like research and preparation of even the non-judicial cases and executing the post-litigation work.
4. Legal documentation and certification services: This comprises preparation, drawing and certification services of legal documents. These services mostly include providing a number of related legal services which include the advice and execution of various tasks which are important for drawing up or even certification of documents. Also included are drawing up wills, various marriage contracts,and business charters,etc.
5. Other legal advice and information services: These comprise the advisory services to clients which are related to their legal rights and other obligations in addition to the provision of information on various legal matters which are not classified elsewhere. Various services like the escrow and estate settlement services are also included.

• Accounting, Auditing and Bookkeeping Services: These services include different categories of accounting, auditing and bookkeeping services.

1. Financial Auditing Services: This involves examination services of various accounting records and supporting evidence of an organization with the aim of giving an opinion to see if the financial statements of an organization fairly represent its position at a particular date and also the results of its operations for the time span which ended on that date as per the generally accepted principles of accounting.
2. Accounting Review Services: These comprise all the reviewing services of both annual and interim financial statements and other accounting information. The scope of the review is less than that of the adult and thus the assurance is level which is stated is low.
3. Compilation of Financial Statements Services: This basically involves compiling the financial statements from the information which is given by the clients. There are no assurances given regarding the accuracy of the resulting statements. Also, the preparation services of the business tax returns when given together while preparing the financial statements for a single fee are also classified here.
4. Other Accounting Services: These include services like attestations, valuations, preparation services of proforma statement,etc.
5. Bookkeeping Services, except Tax Returns: These involve classification and recording of business transactions in terms of money or some other unit of measurement in the books of accounts.

• Research and Development Services: These services include all the research and development services under scientific progress which is achieved in the various fields of natural or social sciences primarily in three areas of R&D, namely basic research, applied research and experimental development. It is further categorized as below:

i. Research and Experimental Development services on physical sciences:

1. Research and experimental development services on physical sciences: These include research and development services on heat, light, electromagnetism, and astronomy, etc.
2. Research and experimental development services on chemistry and biology: These include research and development services on catalyzer, fermentation, ecology, physiology, of both flora and fauna in addition to microbes.
3. Research and experimental development services on engineering and technology: These include research and development services on aspects of applied science and terminology for casting, metals, machinery, communications, vessels, aircraft, construction, information, etc.
4. Research and experimental development services on agricultural sciences: These include research and development services on various agricultural techniques, fruit culture, forestry, breeding of stock, fisheries, etc.
5. Research and experimental development services on medical sciences and pharmacy: These include research and development services on the treatment of various diseases, preventive hygiene and pharmacy, etc.
6. Research and experimental development services on other natural sciences: These include research and development services on various other types of natural sciences.

ii. Research and experimental development services on social sciences and humanities.

1. Research and experimental development services on cultural sciences, sociology, and psychology: These include research and development services on literature, philosophy, welfare, history, educational psychology, etc.
2. Research and experimental development services on economics: These include research and development services on various theories of economics, business management, finance, statistics,etc.
3. Research and experimental development services on law: These include research and development services on public and civil law, etc.
4. Research and experimental development services on linguistics and languages: These include research and development services on linguistic structure and distribution, foreign languages, etc.
5. Research and experimental development services on other social sciences and humanities: These include research and development services on other social sciences and humanities.

iii. Interdisciplinary research and experimental development services:

These include research and development services on environmental ,sciences, human geography, educational engineering, etc.

• Hospital Services: These basically involve all the services which are given as per the direction of medical doctors particularly to in-patients. These are directed at curing and maintaining the health status of a patient. These involve medical, paramedical, laboratory, technical, nursing, etc. All the services which are rendered in the hospital out-patient clinics are not included. Even dental and ambulance services are not included.
• Hotel and Restaurant Services: This involves many services which fall under this category. Here is a list of them:

i. Hotel and Lodging Services: These basically involve lodging accommodations which are given to the transients. It is further divided into the following heads:

1. Hotel Lodging Services: These particularly refer to lodging provided by hotels. All the related services like room services, housekeeping, parking, entertainment, etc. are also included.
2. Motel Lodging Services: All services provided by motels and the ones normally included in the lodging price.
3. Other Lodging Services: These involve holiday centers and homes, children’s holiday camps, letting services, youth hostels, camping sites,etc.

ii. Food Serving Services: Many services fall in this category like

1. Meal serving services with restaurant facilities: These involve food preparation and serving services as given by restaurants like waiter service to customers seating at tables.
2. Meal serving services with self-service facilities: These involve food preparation and other serving services which give a variety of pre-cooked foods for customers to choose from. There are no waiter services. These are often labeled as cafeterias.
3. Catering services: Food preparation and serving services given by the caterers to groups
4. Other food serving services: These involve other food services like refreshment stands etc.

iii. Beverage Serving Services for consumption on the premises: These are divided into two sub-categories as under

1. Beverage serving services without entertainment: These are generally alcoholic beverages like at bars
2. Beverage serving services with entertainment: These also give alcoholic beverages but with entertainment facilities like at nightclubs, etc.

• Travel agency, tour operator and tourist guide services: The services which are included in this category are:

1. Sewage Services: These include removal of sewage, its treatment,and disposal. It also spans the equipment which is employed for the same like waste pipes, sewers or drains, cesspools, etc. The processes like dilution, screening, filtering, sedimentation, etc. are also included.
2. Refuse Disposal Services: These primarily include the collection services from households and commercial spaces. Transportation and disposal of the same by means of incineration are also a part of it.
3. Sanitation and similar services: These involve outdoor sweeping, snow- and ice-clearing services.

• Education Services: Various services included in this category are as follows:

i. Primary Education Services: It is further divided into the following categories:

a) Pre-School Education: This is generally given by the nursery schools, special sections in the primary schools, kindergartens, and are directed to introduce very young children to the environment and routine of school life.

b) Other Primary Education: These involve other services dedicated to primary school education at the first level. These are intended to give the students fundamental education in a variety of subjects.

ii. Secondary Education Services: Various services which fall under this category are as follows:

1. General Secondary Education Services: These comprise the general school education services which form the second level but first stage. It involves education which is aimed at imparting basic education to students at the primary level but on a subject-oriented pattern and basic detail.
2. Higher Secondary Education Services: These comprise the general school education services which form the second level but second stage. These cover a variety of services with more specialization than the first stage. These make students eligible for technical and vocational educational services.
3. Technical and Vocational Secondary Education Services: These are the ones which lie below the level of a university. Such services stress on the specialization of the subject-matter in both theoretical and practical skills.

iii. Higher Education Services:

1. Post-secondary technical and vocational education services: These involve subject-matter programmes which emphasize practical skills along with substantial theoretical background instruction.
2. Other Higher Education services: These are ones which usually lead to a university degree or its equivalent and are imparted by the universities or other specialized schools.

iv. Adult Education Services: These are the education services for adults who are not a part of regular schools or universities. Such services are usually provided during the day or in the form of evening classes by either the schools or other institutions who have specialized in adult education.

• Other Entertainment Services: Various services which fall under this category are:

• Theatrical producer, singer group, band and orchestra entertainment services: These include the live presentation services which include a concert, opera,and dance production services either professional or amateur. These could be established for either a single attraction or multiple attractions.
• Services given by authors, composers, sculptors, entertainers, and other individual artists
• Ancillary theatrical services: These particularly include lighting and sound equipment, ticket agencies, design services, etc.
• Circus, amusement park and similar attractions
• Ballroom, discotheque, and dance instructor services
• Other entertainment services

• News Agency Services: Many services form a part of this. These are as follows:

i. News agency services to newspapers and periodicals

1. Printed news supply services: These involve collection, investigation and supply services of news in the form of manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals,and books.
2. Picture supply services: Supply services of news pictures to printed media businesses like newspapers, periodicals and books.

ii. News-reporting agency services to radio stations

iii. News reporting agency services to television stations: Collection, investigation and supply services of news to radio stations in news reports.

1. Live-coverage reporting agency services to television stations: These cover the live-coverage reporting agency services of news photos/images by relaying from actual spots of the sources of news.
2. News agency services to television stations: Gathering and investigation of news for supplying them in manuscripts, or television stations.
3. Other news agency services: These involve supplying news to mass-media businesses like motion pictures companies.

These are not all the Services which are eligible for SEIS. To see the list of all the services which are eligible for SEIS read our Article "All about Service Export from India Scheme (SEIS)"

Conclusion

SEIS is one of the main DGFT Schemes. We at Afleo.com are very well versed with the mechanisms of DGFT as well as the SEIS Scheme. We can help you circumnavigate through all these governmental systems and assist you to gain all the possible benefits that can be gained through SEIS.