How RoDTEP and RoSCTL Scrips Are Priced

There is no standard rate for a scrip

The question behind most searches for a scrip rate is a fair one: what is the going number. The honest answer is that there is not one. Duty credit is not a listed instrument with a closing price. What a scrip is worth on any given morning depends on the scheme it came from, how much validity is left on it, how large the lot is, and what importers are actually clearing that day.

So Scriphouse does not publish a rate card, and does not ask you to price your own scrip off an average of other people's. Every scrip is priced at the moment it is asked for, against live demand for that scheme, that expiry band and that size. Two identical scrips can price differently on two different days, because the demand behind them is different.

Why there is no benchmark to read your number against

A reference number is a published figure for what a thing is generally worth right now, so that any particular price can be read against something rather than taken on faith. Currencies have one. Freight has one. Government bonds have one. Duty credit does not, and that absence is exactly why this market ran for years on forwarded messages and whoever you happened to know. For a scrip the figure would have to be expressed as a share of face value, because that is the only comparison that means anything: a scrip pays its full face against customs duty, and changes hands slightly below face because the buyer is putting cash out today for a credit they will apply later.

Scriphouse could print a number every morning and call it a benchmark. We do not, and the reason is worth stating plainly. A benchmark is a claim about a market, not about the firm publishing it. To be worth anything it has to be derived from where trades actually clear, published consistently, and defended when somebody disagrees with it. At the volume this market currently trades on any single venue, a number like that is not a benchmark. It is an average wearing a suit, and the first two sellers who compare notes find that out.

So publishing one now would be asserting an authority nobody here has earned yet, and we would rather be short of a marketing line than long on one we cannot stand behind. If the day comes when a rate can be derived from real cleared volume, it will be earned rather than announced. Until then the seller's real question gets answered inside the quote instead of outside it, which is what the rest of this page is about.

A price you cannot read is not a price

A seller still cannot judge a bare number, and that problem is real. Ring three brokers and you get three numbers with nothing to separate them, and the smallest seller, who has least idea what their credit is worth and least ability to walk away, carries the cost of that.

The answer is not a market average. It is that your own number arrives with its reasons attached. On Scriphouse a sell offer shows the scheme rate it started from, what live demand added on the day in basis points and in rupees, and the gross you would receive. You are looking at what moved your price on your scrip, which is a better answer than what happened to somebody else's.

That is what turns a lower number from a suspicion into a fact you can act on. A scrip nearer expiry fetches less; seeing that named, on the same screen as the number, is the difference between "I think I am being lowballed" and "my scrip is closer to expiry, and this is what that costs".

What moves the number on your scrip

These are the reasons two scrips of the same face value are worth different amounts. They are directional, and each one appears on the offer screen with the number it produced.

• How much validity is left. The direction is down as expiry nears. A scrip is only useful while it can still be applied against duty, so the narrower the window, the less room a buyer has and the less it is worth to them. A scrip comfortably clear of expiry earns full value, and a scrip does not improve with age.
• The size of the lot. The direction is up. A large, clean position suits a buyer with the duty to absorb it in one go, and that is paid back to the seller. It is the one adjustment that raises a price rather than lowering it.
• Whether the scrip is whole. A whole scrip moves in one clean transfer. A part-used or split position carries more handling, and that shows up in what a buyer will pay.
• The scheme. RoDTEP and RoSCTL are different instruments to a buyer and need not sit at the same level on the same day, so they are priced on their own lines rather than blended into one number.
• The day itself. Buy-side appetite for duty credit is not constant. It moves with what importers are actually clearing, and it can push a price up as easily as down.

What you will not find here is a schedule of fixed deductions, because there is not one. A table that claimed to be right for every scrip on every day would be describing a market that does not exist.

How a price becomes a firm offer

When you open Sell Now, Scriphouse prices your actual scrip and shows you one number with its reasons on the same screen. That number is firm for sixty seconds. It is a price rather than an indication: accept inside the minute and it is what you are paid, and the trade settles the same business day.

Occasionally there is no offer. If no number works for both you and a buyer, Scriphouse shows nothing rather than a price you would regret accepting. A desk that has a number for everything, always, is not doing you a favour.

The buy side works the same way. When an importer covers a Bill of Entry with scrips, the bundle is priced live too, with the buy-leg spread on top, and the ask is capped at face.

What a number is not

Four negations, and they are load-bearing rather than boilerplate. Any figure you see quoted for duty credit, here or anywhere, is not a quote, and nobody is bound by it. It is not an offer to trade. It is not a promise about the specific scrip sitting in your ledger. And it is not advice on when to sell, which depends on things no number can see, starting with whether you need the cash. For where scrips are actually sitting and what is pushing them about from one day to the next, read what a RoDTEP scrip is worth today. To see how a price lands on a real trade, the pricing page walks a worked example end to end.

How to read a number you are given

Two practical rules, whoever you are dealing with.

First, ask what moved it. A number handed over bare, with no reason attached, cannot be judged by anyone, and that is as true of a good number as of a poor one. A number that arrives with the scheme, the validity left and the size named beside it can be argued with, which is the point.

Second, if a number sits above face value, treat it as a warning rather than a win. A scrip is worth its full face against customs duty and not a rupee more, so a price above face is not generosity, it is a reason to look harder at who is offering it. The scams guide covers what that usually turns out to be. The underlying gap itself, why a scrip pays full face and still sells for less, is covered in what a scrip's face value means.

Frequently asked questions

What is the going rate for a RoDTEP scrip?

There is no single going rate, and anyone who gives you one without seeing your scrip is guessing. A clean scrip trades a little under its face value, and where it lands depends on the scheme, the validity left, the size of the lot, whether it is whole, and demand on the day. On Scriphouse the number is made when you ask for it and is firm for sixty seconds.

Does Scriphouse publish a scrip rate?

No. There is no standard rate for a scrip, so publishing one would be asserting a market authority nobody in this market has earned yet. Instead, every scrip is priced live against real demand for that scheme, expiry band and size, and the offer shows you what moved your own number.

Why is a scrip near expiry worth less?

A scrip can only be applied against duty until it expires, so a buyer has less time to use one that is close to expiry and less room to absorb it. The direction is down as expiry nears, and a scrip comfortably clear of expiry earns full value. There is no fixed deduction table, because what a shorter window costs depends on demand on the day.

Do large scrip lots get a better rate?

They can. A large, clean lot suits a buyer with the duty capacity to absorb it in one transfer, and that is paid back to the seller. It is the one adjustment that pushes a price up rather than down.

Why does my offer differ from a number I was quoted elsewhere?

Because a scrip is not a commodity with one price. Two offers on the same scrip can differ on the same day, and two offers on your scrip can differ across two days. What matters is whether the number arrives with its reasons attached, so you can read it rather than take it on trust.

Is there a published benchmark for duty-credit scrips?

No, and not by anyone: not a government body, not another venue, and not Scriphouse. A benchmark has to be derived from where trades actually clear, published consistently and defended when somebody disagrees with it, and duty credit does not yet trade in the volume on any single venue that would support one. A figure published anyway is an average presented as authority, which is worse than no figure, because it invites a seller to read their own scrip against something that does not describe it.

Can I sell a scrip above face value?

No, and you should be wary of anyone who says otherwise. A scrip is worth its full face value against customs duty and no more, so there is no economic reason for a buyer to pay above face. A price above face is a reason to check who you are dealing with rather than a bargain.