Export compliance: LUT, IGST refund vs ITC route, 9-month FEMA realisation, RoDTEP — the four issues that stall working capital.

Not under zero-rated LUT export — your options are limited until you file the LUT. If you have already issued export invoices without a valid LUT for the current financial year, technically IGST is payable on those exports. You can file the LUT now and apply for condonation, but there is no automatic waiver — the GST officer has discretion. The safest approach is to file the LUT immediately and, for invoices already issued without it, consider paying IGST and claiming the IGST refund (Route 1). The LUT is filed online on the GST portal under Services → Refunds → Letter of Undertaking — it takes minutes once the prior year's LUT compliance is clear.

For most exporters, Route 2 (LUT + ITC refund) is better because it avoids paying IGST upfront and tying up cash. Under Route 1, you pay IGST at the time of export and wait for the refund — which can take 2-3 months. Under Route 2, you accumulate ITC on inputs and claim a refund of that ITC. However, Route 2 requires meticulous ITC reconciliation with GSTR-2B, and not all ITC is refundable (restricted credits under rule 89(5) for services can only be claimed at a formula-derived rate). For goods exporters with straightforward supply chains, Route 2 is generally preferred. Service exporters should compute the effective refund rate under both routes before choosing.

Yes. Under FEMA Master Direction on Export of Goods and Services, export proceeds must be realised within 9 months of the date of shipment for goods (or date of invoice for software/services). If your buyer is paying after 10-11 months, you are in violation of FEMA for those invoices unless you have obtained an extension from your Authorised Dealer (AD) bank before the 9-month deadline. The extension can be granted by the AD bank for genuine trade reasons without RBI approval in most cases — but the application must be made before the deadline, not after. Retrospective condonation requires RBI intervention and can involve compounding proceedings.

RoDTEP (Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products) refunds the embedded taxes on exported goods that are not otherwise recovered — state VAT on fuel, mandi cess, electricity duty, stamp duty on export documents. It is product-specific, with rates determined by HS code. The credit is issued as a scrip in ICEGATE which can be used to pay Basic Customs Duty. It is not a cash refund. Duty Drawback, on the other hand, refunds Central Excise and Customs duties embedded in inputs. The two schemes are separate and can both be claimed where applicable. MEIS (the predecessor scheme) has been discontinued and subsumed into RoDTEP for most products.

Yes. Section 10AA of the Income-tax Act provides a deduction on profits from an SEZ unit for export of goods or services. The deduction is 100% of export profits for the first 5 years, 50% for the next 5 years, and 50% of the amount transferred to a Special Economic Zone Re-investment Reserve for the following 5 years. The deduction is subject to the MAT provisions under section 115JB. Key condition: the deduction applies only to profits derived from exports — not to domestic sales — and requires the profits to be computed separately for each SEZ unit.