T90TankGuy
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NEW DELHI: For nine days, a brand new MiG-29K fighter plane acquired from Russia has been standing at the Goa port.
It will not go anywhere for now, say sources, unless the defence ministry pays over Rs. 160 crore in customs duty.
At airports and ports across the country, there is a growing collection of overhauled aircraft engines and military equipment worth crores.
This year, the government said that the military will no longer be spared from customs duty for imports. The idea was to provide a level playing field to Indian defence manufacturers.
But, in an apparent oversight, the finance ministry's blanket order withdrawing duty exemption for all military hardware imports has brought all equipment belonging to the services in the tax net.
Top sources told NDTV that apart from the MiG-29K that arrived from Russia on May 2, overhauled engines and spares of Mirage 2000 and overhauled engines of transporters like the Russian made IL- 76 are lying at various airports and ports.
NDTV has accessed a letter from the Indian Air Force to the Customs and Excise department on April 27 requesting a duty write-off for gear boxes of the Russian made Mi-26 aircraft that have been brought to India after an overhaul. The equipment is "bonafide property of the Government of India," and "needs to exempt from Customs duty," the letter says.
The Army, Air Force and Navy face a peculiar problem - although the customs duty will go the government, there is no provision for it in the defence ministry's budget.
Besides customs duty, according to rough estimates, the ministry also has to pay about Rs.35 lakh per day to store the costly equipment in the warehouses of airports and ports.
Responding to NDTV's questions the ministry said "it was seized of the matter and had taken up the issue with Finance. A system of bonds that certify the equipment to resolve the issue."
Sources said the three services will now use these bonds to get the equipment out, while the Ministry of Defence will work out a system of book transfer of the custom duties to the government.
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/when...in-warehouse-1405266?pfrom=home-lateststories
It will not go anywhere for now, say sources, unless the defence ministry pays over Rs. 160 crore in customs duty.
At airports and ports across the country, there is a growing collection of overhauled aircraft engines and military equipment worth crores.
This year, the government said that the military will no longer be spared from customs duty for imports. The idea was to provide a level playing field to Indian defence manufacturers.
But, in an apparent oversight, the finance ministry's blanket order withdrawing duty exemption for all military hardware imports has brought all equipment belonging to the services in the tax net.
Top sources told NDTV that apart from the MiG-29K that arrived from Russia on May 2, overhauled engines and spares of Mirage 2000 and overhauled engines of transporters like the Russian made IL- 76 are lying at various airports and ports.
NDTV has accessed a letter from the Indian Air Force to the Customs and Excise department on April 27 requesting a duty write-off for gear boxes of the Russian made Mi-26 aircraft that have been brought to India after an overhaul. The equipment is "bonafide property of the Government of India," and "needs to exempt from Customs duty," the letter says.
The Army, Air Force and Navy face a peculiar problem - although the customs duty will go the government, there is no provision for it in the defence ministry's budget.
Besides customs duty, according to rough estimates, the ministry also has to pay about Rs.35 lakh per day to store the costly equipment in the warehouses of airports and ports.
Responding to NDTV's questions the ministry said "it was seized of the matter and had taken up the issue with Finance. A system of bonds that certify the equipment to resolve the issue."
Sources said the three services will now use these bonds to get the equipment out, while the Ministry of Defence will work out a system of book transfer of the custom duties to the government.
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/when...in-warehouse-1405266?pfrom=home-lateststories
