In a set of three notifications issued late on Thursday, the revenue department has updated the electronic postal export documentation and modified the Exemption of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) and Rebates on State and Central Taxes and Levy (RoSCTL) regime to bring postal exports at par with cargo handled through ports and airports.
These changes align postal exports processed through the Customs Automated System with traditional freight bills and address a long-standing compliance gap faced by exporters using the postal channel.
Why it matters
The move targets low-value, high-volume exports that have grown rapidly with cross-border e-commerce and are increasingly routed through India Post and foreign postal networks.
The biggest beneficiaries are MSMEs, e-commerce sellers, artisans and primary exporters who rely heavily on postal services for lower costs and easier logistics. The changes also bring more certainty, reduce disputes with field workers and help exporters better plan their cash flows, said Rajat Mohan, senior partner at AMRG & Associates.
“Many exporters send goods abroad through the postal route, which is legally permitted under the Customs Act. However, since the export incentive rules were largely written with traditional freight bills in mind, these postal exporters often faced denial or delay in benefits such as duty drawback and RoDTEP,” Mohan said.
“With these amendments, the government has made it clear that electronic export records filed for postal exports will be treated as regular waybills,” he added.
It also comes at a time when exporters face increased uncertainty after the United States imposed a 50% tariff on Indian goods and announced an additional 25% tariff on trading partners of Iran, a category that includes India.
RoDTEP and RoSCTL are export promotion programs that refund input taxes and charges that are not otherwise rebated, helping Indian exporters price their goods more competitively in global markets.
The core of the changes is the 2022 amendment to the postal export regulation (electronic declaration and processing).
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has replaced the existing postal export declaration formats with two revised electronic forms – PBE-III for e-commerce driven postal exports and PBE-IV for other postal exports.
PBE stands for Postal Bills of Export (PBE).
Postal push
The changes come against the backdrop of the government expanding India Post’s global footprint to promote e-commerce exports.
As first reported by Mint on January 2, India Post has added 50 new countries in Africa, Europe, Central Asia and West Asia under its International Tracked Packet Service (ITPS), expanding its total coverage to 135 destinations.
The expansion reflects a broader push to use the postal network as an export vehicle for small and online sellers, particularly as India seeks to diversify export markets hit by steep US tariffs.
The move also coincides with the government’s plan to relax its stance on e-commerce rules for exports, including proposals to allow FDI in inventory-based e-commerce models, but only for export purposes.
India Post, the world’s largest postal network, operates around 165,000 post offices, including over 149,000 in rural areas and about 15,000 in urban centres, giving it an unrivaled reach for last-mile export logistics.
India Post allows shipments up to 2 kg to most countries and up to 5 kg to select destinations such as the UK, Canada and the US.
“The aim is to facilitate small e-commerce exporters to send samples and products to up to 135 countries worldwide. This is in line with the objectives of the Commerce Department and the Prime Minister’s ‘One District One Product’ initiative,” said Lakshmikant Dash, Deputy Director General (International Relations and Global Trade) at the Ministry of Posts earlier.
“ODOP items and GI-marked products that have strong overseas demand can be easily exported using this service,” Dash added.
Relieving industry
Experts said the changes address a long-standing practical problem for exporters.
The revised forms expand the disclosure requirements, including exporter and consignee data, package-level data, product classification, invoice information, tax and customs breakdowns, payment identifiers and postal tracking numbers.
Exporters must also expressly declare their intention to claim duty drawback, RoDTEP or RoSCTL benefits and comply with record keeping obligations under the Customs Audit Regulations 2018.
At the same time, the government amended the RoDTEP and RoSCTL notifications issued in April 2023 to specifically include postal exports cleared by electronic entry under Section 84 of the Customs Act. Previously, eligibility for the incentive was closely tied to shipping or export documents filed under Section 50, creating ambiguity for exporters who used the postal route even though electronic processing was in place.
Officials working on the matter said the combined changes are meant to close a regulatory mismatch that has emerged as customs processes have gone digital, while export incentive rules continue to reflect legacy port-centric systems.
“Overall, this is a welcome procedural clarification that promotes ease of doing business and makes the export incentive scheme more inclusive without creating an additional revenue burden on the government,” Mohan said.
