RoDTEP Scheme Rates Guide 2026: E-Scrips, Cuts & Updates

The RoDTEP scheme just survived its most chaotic quarter and came out extended. DGFT Notification No. 74/2025-26 keeps it alive from 1 April to 30 September 2026, with rates and value caps frozen exactly where they stood on 31 March. Behind that calm sits an ₹18,233 crore FY2025-26 allocation covering 10,780 HS lines for regular exports, per PIB — and a February in which rates were halved overnight, un-halved for farm goods a day later, and fully restored within a month. If you export from India, this is the one incentive you cannot afford to misread in 2026.

This guide covers what the scheme refunds, the current rate structure, the e-scrip claim flow on ICEGATE, how RoDTEP differs from MEIS, and every 2025-26 change that moves money.

What is the RoDTEP scheme?

The RoDTEP scheme — Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products — refunds embedded central, state and local levies that no other mechanism rebates, such as mandi tax, VAT and excise on transport fuel, and coal cess, paid as a percentage of FOB value in transferable e-scrips on ICEGATE.

It took effect on 1 January 2021 as the WTO-compliant replacement for MEIS, per ClearTax. The design principle is simple: taxes should not be exported. GST refunds and duty drawback catch the visible taxes; RoDTEP sweeps up the ones buried in electricity bills, diesel, and state levies along the production chain. Cumulative support had reached ₹57,976.78 crore by 31 March 2025, per Policy Circle. Both manufacturer and merchant exporters qualify, and courier-mode e-commerce exports are covered too — a detail many first-time sellers miss when setting up an export business.

RoDTEP scheme rates in 2026: how much do you get back?

Most products earn between 0.3% and 4.3% of FOB value, per ClearTax, with some lines carrying a per-unit value cap that limits the rebate regardless of price. Every rate is keyed to the 8-digit ITC(HS) code — get the code wrong on your shipping bill and you claim the wrong rate, which is one more reason to nail your HS classification before filing.

The official RoDTEP rates list for 2026 lives in two appendices on the DGFT portal: Appendix 4R for Domestic Tariff Area exports (10,780 HS lines) and Appendix 4RE for Advance Authorisation holders, EOUs and SEZ units (10,795 lines). The 4RE rates were re-notified when those categories were restored to the scheme from 1 June 2025. Working exporters check the appendix before quoting, not after shipping — a 1.5% rebate on a thin-margin order is often the difference between winning and passing.

How do you claim RoDTEP? The e-scrip flow

The claim rides on your shipping bill and settles in an ICEGATE ledger. Five steps:

1. Declare intent on the shipping bill. Mark each item RODTEPY (claiming) or RODTEPN. There is no backdated claim — miss the declaration and that shipment's rebate is gone.
2. Export and file the EGM. Once the Export General Manifest is in, customs processes the claim and generates a scroll with the admissible amount.
3. Register on ICEGATE and create the e-scrip. Select scrolls in the e-scrip module and convert them into duty credit scrips in your electronic ledger, per the ICEGATE advisory.
4. Use or transfer. E-scrips pay basic customs duty only — not IGST, not cess. They are freely transferable to any other IEC holder through the portal.
5. Watch the clock. Scrips are valid 2 years from generation (extended from one year by Circular No. 21/2022-Customs); unused credit lapses, per Razorpay's scrip guide.

No RODTEPY declaration, no rebate. The claim is born on the shipping bill or not at all.

Exporters who import little or nothing sell their scrips rather than sit on them — transfers typically clear at 97-98% of face value. That 2-3% haircut beats letting credit expire.

RoDTEP vs MEIS: what actually changed?

MEIS died because a WTO dispute panel ruled in 2019, on a US complaint, that India's export-contingent reward schemes violated the Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement, per Razorpay. RoDTEP was built to survive that test: it remits taxes actually embedded in the product instead of rewarding export performance.

The honest summary: RoDTEP pays less than MEIS did, but it is legally durable — no trading partner can knock it down at the WTO the way MEIS fell.

What changed in 2025-26? Extensions, the 50% scare, and the restore

Five notifications rewrote the scheme's terms in twelve months. The February whiplash matters even now: exporters who shipped during the cut window get full rates retroactively.

The money tells its own story. Disbursements climbed from ₹13,175 crore in FY2022-23 to ₹15,018 crore in FY2023-24 and ₹18,313 crore in FY2024-25, per Business Standard data via Vision IAS — while merchandise exports stayed nearly flat. That mismatch is why the 2026-27 budget slashed the allocation 45% to ₹10,000 crore and plans to fold RoDTEP and RoSCTL into a unified Export Promotion Mission.

Exporters lived through four rate regimes in five weeks — and ended exactly where they started.

Compliance that trips exporters

Three obligations generate most of the pain. First, the Annual RoDTEP Return (Appendix 4RR): mandatory once your claims cross ₹1 crore in a financial year, due by 31 March of the following year, per Tax Guru. File up to three months late and the composition fee is ₹10,000; later still, ₹20,000 — and benefits stay suspended until you pay and file. Second, the two-year scrip clock: audit your ICEGATE ledger quarterly so credit never lapses. Third, declaration discipline — mark RODTEPY on every eligible line of every shipping bill, since the export documentation chain offers no second chance, and your IEC must be active for scrips to generate and transfer.

How ShipScout helps you use the rebate you just protected

RoDTEP defends your price. It does not find you a buyer. ShipScout covers that side — 11B+ shipment records across 240+ countries — and helps Indian exporters grow with data-backed targeting:

1. Size demand for your exact HS code. Search your 8-digit line and see which markets actually import it, before you spend a rupee on outreach.
2. Pull verified buyer lists ranked by volume. Start with active importers — finding buyers for export from India walks through the method, or browse US importers directly from public customs records.
3. Vet before you quote. A buyer's shipment history shows real purchase frequency and supplier churn, so your RoDTEP-cushioned price lands with companies that actually transact.

The rebate window runs to 30 September 2026. Fill it with orders — Start a free trial and see who is buying your product this quarter.