Special Economic Zones Rules, 2006

Chapter 6
Foreign Exchange Earning – requirements and monitoring

²[53. Net Foreign Exchange Earnings -- The Unit shall achieve Positive Net Foreign Exchange to be calculated cumulatively for a period of five years from the commencement of production according to the following formula, namely:—
Positive Net Foreign Exchange = A - B > 0
Where, —
A : is Free on Board value of exports, including exports to Nepal and Bhutan against freely convertible currency, by the Unit and the value of following supplies of their products, namely:—
a. supply of goods against Advance Authorisation or Advance Authorisation for annual requirement or Duty Free Import Authorisation under the Duty Exemption or Remission scheme under the Foreign Trade Policy;
b. supply of capital goods to holders of licence under the Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme under the Foreign Trade Policy;
c. supply of goods to projects financed by multilateral or bilateral agencies or funds as notified by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, from time to time, under International Competitive Bidding in accordance with the procedures of those agencies or funds, where the legal agreements provide for tender evaluation without including the customs duty;
d. supply of goods to any project or for any purpose in respect of which the Ministry of Finance notifies from time to time, permitting import of such goods at zero customs duty;
e. supply of goods to United Nations or International Organisations for their official use or supplied to the projects financed by the said United Nations or an International Organisation approved by Government of India and the list of such organisations and conditions applicable to such supplies is notified by Ministry of Finance from time to time;
f. supply of goods to nuclear power projects provided they are as per the conditions stipulated in Foreign Trade Policy;
g. supply against special entitlements of duty free import of goods under the Foreign Trade Policy;
h. export of services by services units including services rendered within Special Economic Zone or services rendered in the Domestic Tariff Area and paid for in free foreign exchange or such services rendered in Indian Rupees which are otherwise considered as having been paid for in free foreign exchange by the Reserve Bank of India;
i. supply of Information Technology Agreement items and notified zero duty telecom or electronic items, namely, Colour Display Tubes for monitors and Deflection components for colour monitors or any other items as may be notified by the Central Government;
j. supply to other Units and Developers in the same or other Special Economic Zone or Export Oriented Unit or Electronic Hardware Technology Park or Software Technology Park Unit or Bio-technology Park Unit provided that such goods and services are permissible for import or procurement by such Units and Developers;
k. supply of goods against free foreign exchange by a Free Trade and Warehousing Zone Unit.

Explanation. - For removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that the supplies under clause (j) shall be against procurement certificate, as applicable and the supplies under clauses (d) to (g) shall be as per the terms and conditions of the respective duty exemption as notified by the Central Government, in the Ministry of Finance.
B : consists of sum of the following— (a) sum total of the Cost Insurance and Freight value of all imported inputs used for authorised operations during the relevant period and the Cost Insurance and Freight value of all imported capital goods including goods purchased on high seas basis even though paid for in Indian Rupees and the value of all payments made in foreign exchange by way of export commission, royalty, fees, dividends, interest on external commercial borrowings during the first five year period or any other charges;
(b) value of goods obtained from other Unit or Export Oriented Unit or Electronic Hardware Technology Park or Software Technology Park Unit or Bio-technology Park Unit or from bonded warehouses or procured from international exhibitions held in India or precious metals procured from nominated agencies;
(c) the Cost Insurance Freight value of the goods and services, including pro-rata Cost Insurance Freight of capital goods, imported duty free or leased from a leasing company or received free of cost or on loan basis or on transfer for the period they remain with the Unit;
Explanation. - For the purposes of clause (a), the expression “inputs” mean raw materials, intermediates, components, consumables, parts and packing materials;

(d) for annual calculation of Net Foreign Exchange, value of imported capital goods and lump sum payment of foreign technical know-how fee shall be amortised at the rate of ten per cent. every year from the first year to the tenth year;
C: Gems and Jewellery units shall achieve minimum Value Addition as laid down in prevailing Foreign Trade Policy or Hand Book of Procedures: Provided that the Nominated agencies working as a service unit for precious metals supply within Special Economic Zone shall be subjected to the requirement of positive Net Foreign Exchange only; and
D: For Gems and Jewellery, the minimum Value Addition shall be in terms of prevailing Foreign Trade Policy or Hand Book of Procedures and it shall be calculated as under:-

VA = A-B x 100

            B

Where, -
A = Free on Board value of the export realised or Freight on Road and Rails value of supply received;
B = Value of inputs such as gold or silver or platinum content in export product plus admissible wastage along with value of other items, such as gemstone etc. wherever gold has been obtained on loan basis, value shall also include interest paid in free foreign exchange to foreign supplies:

Provided that where a Unit is unable to achieve Net Foreign Exchange due to adverse market conditions or any ground of genuine hardship having adverse impact on functioning of the Unit, the five years block period for calculation of Net Foreign Exchange earnings may be extended by the Board of Approval for a further period of upto one year, on a case to case basis.”. ]

Old[¹[53. Net Foreign Exchange Earnings. ' The Unit shall achieve Positive Net Foreign Exchange to be calculated cumulatively for a period of five years from the commencement of production according to the following formula, namely:'
Positive Net Foreign Exchange = A - B > 0 Where, '

A : is Free on Board of Approval value of exports, including exports to Nepal and Bhutan against freely convertible currency, by the Unit and the value of following supplies of their products, manufactured in the Special Economic Zone and the value of the services (excluding traded goods), namely:'
(a) supply of goods against Advance Authorisation or Advance Authorisation for annual requirement or Duty Free Import Authorisation under the Duty Exemption or Remission scheme under the Foreign Trade Policy;
(b) supply of capital goods to holders of licence under the Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme under the Foreign Trade Policy;
(c) supply of goods to projects financed by multilateral or bilateral agencies or funds as notified by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, from time to time, under International Competitive Bidding in accordance with the procedures of those agencies or funds, where the legal agreements provide for tender evaluation without including the customs duty;
(d) supply of goods to any project or for any purpose in respect of which the Ministry of Finance notifies from time to time, permitting import of such goods at zero customs duty subject to conditions specified in the above said notification provided the supply is made under procedure of International Competitive Bidding;
(e) supply of goods to United Nations or International Organisations for their official use or supplied to the projects financed by the said United Nations or an International Organisation approved by Government of India and the list of such organisations and conditions applicable to such supplies is notified by Ministry of Finance from time to time;
(f) supply of goods to nuclear power projects provided they are as per the conditions stipulated in Foreign Trade Policy;
(g) supply against special entitlements of duty free import of goods under the Foreign Trade Policy;
(h) export of services by services Units including services rendered within Special Economic Zone or such
services rendered in Indian Rupees which are otherwise considered as having been paid for in free
foreign exchange by the Reserve Bank of India;
(i) supply of Information Technology Agreement items and notified zero duty telecom or electronic items,
namely, Colour Display Tubes for monitors and Deflection components for colour monitors or any
other items as may be notified by the Central Government;
(j) supply to other Units and Developers in the same or other Special Economic Zone or Export Oriented Unit or Electronic Hardware Technology Park or Software Technology Park Unit or Bio-technology Park Unit provided that such goods and services are permissible for import or procurement by such Units and Developers;
(k) supply of goods against free foreign exchange by a Free Trade and Warehousing Zone Unit.

Explanation. - For removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that the supplies under clause (j) shall be against procurement certificate, as applicable and the supplies under clauses (d) to (g) shall be as per the terms and conditions of the respective duty exemption as notified by the Central Government, in the Ministry of Finance.

B : consists of sum of the following'
(a) sum total of the Cost Insurance and Freight value of all imported or indigenous inputs used for authorised operations during the relevant period and the Cost Insurance and Freight value of all imported capital goods including goods purchased on high seas basis even though paid for in Indian Rupees and the value of all payments made in foreign exchange by way of export commission, royalty, fees, dividends, interest on external commercial borrowings during the first five year period or any other charges;
(b) value of goods obtained from other Unit or Export Oriented Unit or Electronic Hardware Technology Park or Software Technology Park Unit or Bio-technology Park Unit or from bonded warehouses or procured from international exhibitions held in India or precious metals procured from nominated agencies;
(c) the Cost Insurance Freight value of the goods and services, including pro-rata Cost Insurance Freight of capital goods, imported duty free or leased from a leasing company or received free of cost or on loan basis or on transfer for the period they remain with the Unit.
Explanation. - For the purposes of clause (a), the expression "inputs" mean raw materials, intermediates, components, consumables, parts and packing materials;
(d) for annual calculation of Net Foreign Exchange, value of imported capital goods and lump sum
payment of foreign technical know-how fee shall be amortised at the rate of ten per cent. every year
from the first year to the tenth year;
C: Gems and Jewellery Units shall achieve minimum Value Addition as laid down in prevailing Foreign Trade Policy or Hand Book of Procedures:
Provided that the Nominated Agencies working as a service Unit for precious metals supply within Special Economic Zone shall be subjected to the requirement of positive Net Foreign Exchange only; and
D: For Gems and Jewellery, the minimum Value Addition shall be in terms of prevailing Foreign Trade Policy or Hand Book of Procedures and it shall be calculated as under:-
VA = A-B/B x 100

Where, -
A = Free on Board value of the export realised or Freight on Road and Rails value of supply received;
B = Value of inputs (including domestically procured) such as gold or silver or platinum content in export product plus admissible wastage along with value of other items, such as gemstone etc. wherever gold has been obtained on loan basis, value shall also include interest paid in free foreign exchange to foreign supplies:";

Provided that where a Unit is unable to achieve Net Foreign Exchange due to adverse market conditions or any ground of genuine hardship having adverse impact on functioning of the Unit, the five years block period for calculation of Net Foreign Exchange earnings may be extended by the Board of Approval for a further period of upto one year, on a case to case basis.".]]
 

Old[53. Net Foreign Exchange Earnings.- 

The Unit shall achieve Positive Net Foreign Exchange to be calculated cumulatively for a period of five years from the commencement of production according to the following formula, namely:-

Positive Net Foreign Exchange = A – B >0

where:

A: is Free on Board value of exports, including exports to Nepal and Bhutan against freely convertible currency, by the Unit and the value of following supplies of their products, namely: -

(a) supply of goods against Advance Licence or Duty Free Replenishment Certificate under the Duty Exemption or Remission Scheme or Diamond Imprest Licence under the Foreign Trade Policy;

(b) supply of capital goods to holders of licence under the Export Promotion Capital Goods scheme under the Foreign Trade Policy;

(c) supply of goods to projects financed by multilateral or bilateral agencies or funds as notified by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance under International Competitive Bidding in accordance with the procedures of those agencies or funds, where the legal agreements provide for tender evaluation without including the customs duty;

(d) supply of capital goods, including those in unassembled or disassembled condition as well as plants, machinery, accessories, tools, dies and such goods which are used for installation purposes till the stage of production and spares to the extent of ten per cent. of the free on rail value to fertilizer plants;

(e) supply of goods to any project or purpose in respect of which the Ministry of Finance, by a notification, permits the import of such goods at zero customs duty;

(f) supply of goods to the power projects and refineries not covered in (e) above;

(g) supply to projects funded by United Nations Agencies;

(h) supply of goods to nuclear power projects through competitive bidding as opposed to International Competitive Bidding;

(i) supply made to bonded warehouses set up under the Foreign Trade Policy or under section 65 of the Customs Act and free trade and warehousing zones, where payment is received in foreign exchange;

(j) supply against special entitlements of duty free import of goods under the Foreign Trade Policy;

(k) export of services by services units including services rendered within Special Economic Zone or services rendered in the Domestic Tariff Area and paid for in free foreign exchange or such services rendered in Indian Rupees which are otherwise considered as having been paid for in free foreign exchange by the Reserve Bank of India;

(l) supply of Information Technology Agreement items and notified zero duty telecom or electronic items, namely, Color Display Tubes for monitors and Deflection components for colour monitors or any other items as may be notified by the Central Government;

(m) supply to other units and Developers in the same or other Special Economic Zone or Export Oriented Unit or Electronic Hardware Technology Park or Software Technology Park Units or Bio-technology Park Unit provided that such goods and services are permissible for import or procurement by such units and Developers;

(n) supply of goods to Domestic Tariff Area against payment in foreign exchange from the Exchange Earners Foreign Currency account of the Domestic Tariff Area buyer or Free Foreign Exchange received from overseas;

(o) supply of goods against free foreign exchange by a Free Trade and Warehousing Zone Unit;

Explanation: For the proposes of this sub-rule, the supplies under clause (m) shall be against procurement certificate, as applicable and the supplies under clauses (d) to (h) and (j) shall be as per the terms and conditions of the respective duty exemption notified by the Central Government, in the Ministry of Finance; 

and

B: consist of sum of the following:-
(a) sum total of the Cost Insurance and Freight value of all imported inputs used for authorized operations during the relevant period and the Cost Insurance and Freight value of all imported capital goods including goods purchased on high seas basis even though paid for in Indian Rupees and the value of all payments made in foreign exchange by way of export commission, royalty, fees, dividends, interest on external commercial borrowings during the first five year period or any other charges;

(b) value of goods obtained from other Unit or Export Oriented Unit or Electronic Hardware Technology Park or Software Technology Park Unit or Bio-technology Park Unit or from bonded warehouses or procured from international exhibitions held in India or precious metals procured from nominated agencies;

(c) the Cost Insurance Freight value of the goods and services, including pro- rata Cost Insurance Freight of capital goods, imported duty free or leased from a leasing company or received free of cost and or on loan basis or on transfer for the period they remain with Unit;

Explanation: - for the purposes of this sub-rule "Inputs" mean raw materials, intermediates, components, consumables, parts and packing materials.

(d) for annual calculation of Net Foreign Exchange, value of imported capital goods and lump sum payment of foreign technical know-how fee shall be amortized at the rate of ten per cent. every year from the first year to tenth year.]

1. Subsituted vide Notification dated 19/09/2018
2. Subsituted vide Notification Dated 07/03/2019