MSMEs told to export directly from Foreign Post Office in city

Vijayawada: Chief Post Master General K Balasubramanian informed the micro, small and medium enterprises in the city to book their exports directly from the Foreign Post Office (FPO) established in the city.

In a statement here on Monday, he said the FPO set up at Government Polytechnic post office in the city, would receive commercial export goods and the local Customs officials after verification would directly send them to the office of exchanges concerned.

Elaborating the procedure, Balasubramanian said that the exporters with valid import-export code (IEC) could present their goods with filled in postal bill of export (PBE) and invoice in duplicate at the FPO. A soft copy of the PBE-I and II shall be provided by the exporter to customs for speedy processing of their goods.

He said any IEC holder exporting goods through FPO was eligible for zero rating of exports by way of IGST refund or discharge of refund i.e. letter of understanding (LoU) in GST RFD-II form. Those who do not wish to avail this facility or fall in the category of exempted or non-taxable, are also permitted to export their goods under the same procedure. 

Referring to the list of MSME clusters in Vijayawada, he said that power loom and lime calcinations in Guntur, wooden furniture in Macherla, gold plating and imitation jewellery in Machilipatnam, rice mills and steel furniture in Vijayawada and rice mills in West Godavari could export their products from the FPO.

He appealed to MSMEs who had IEC code issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade to make use of the facility provided by the Department of Posts to boost up their commercial exports.