What Is a RoDTEP Scrip? The Instrument, Its Balance and Its Two-Year Clock
You claimed RoDTEP at export, the scroll ran, and a credit appeared in your ledger. This is what that instrument actually is: what it carries, what it can pay, how it changes hands, and what it is worth in cash.
What a RoDTEP scrip actually is
A RoDTEP scrip is an electronic duty credit issued to an exporter, held as a line in the Electronic Duty Credit Ledger on ICEGATE, and spendable against basic customs duty on an import. It is not a cash refund, and it is not a paper certificate. It is a balance in a government ledger sitting against your IEC, and it can be moved to another IEC in full.
The scheme behind it remits the central, state and local taxes that were embedded in your exported goods and never refunded through GST or drawback. That is the policy, and it is covered end to end on the RoDTEP scheme page. This guide is about the instrument itself: what the thing in your ledger carries, what it can pay, how it moves, and what it is worth.
What the scrip carries in the ledger
Four attributes, and almost every question exporters ask about scrips turns out to be a question about one of them.
- A face value. It is born from the notified rate for the goods you exported. The schedule in Appendix 4R was notified by DGFT Notification 32/2024-25 with effect from 10 October 2024 and amended most recently by Notification 15/2026-27 with effect from 1 May 2026, and its lines run from 0.01% to 3.9% of FOB value, clustering at 0.5%, 0.7% and 0.9%. Many lines also carry a value cap per unit, in which case the credit is the lower of rate times FOB and cap times quantity. The arithmetic is set out in how RoDTEP rates are calculated.
- A creation date, which starts a two-year clock. Validity is two years from the date the credit is created in the ledger, under Regulation 6(2) of the Electronic Duty Credit Ledger Regulations, 2021, as amended by Notification 79/2022-Customs (N.T.). The clock runs from creation and does not reset when the scrip changes hands, so a scrip bought in its final months expires on its original date. When does a scrip expire covers what that does to usability and price.
- A live balance. The balance is not the face value. It falls as the scrip pays duty, and it goes to nil when the scrip is transferred out. Partial use leaves a residual balance that is still spendable, still on the same expiry date.
- A status. Every e-scrip sits in one of six: Active, Utilized, Transferred, Transfer Pending, Expired, Transfer Rejected. Status is the fastest read on whether a scrip is available, committed to a transfer, or finished.
The ledger itself, and how these fields behave when you work with them, is covered in the Electronic Duty Credit Ledger explained.
What it can and cannot pay
This is the single most misunderstood property of the instrument, and it decides who a scrip is worth anything to.
It can pay:
- Basic customs duty on an import, that is duties of customs levied under the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975.
It cannot pay:
- IGST on imports.
- GST compensation cess.
- Social Welfare Surcharge.
The practical consequence is that an importer whose duty bill is mostly IGST has far less appetite for scrips than one bringing in goods with a heavy basic customs duty line. Demand for your scrip tracks other people's basic customs duty, not the total value of their imports.
How it changes hands
Transfer is a two-sided handshake, not a one-click send. Per the ICEGATE e-scrip advisory, version 0.10 dated 30 May 2024, sections 3.4 and 3.5, the transferor initiates the transfer using the transferee's ICEGATE ID and IEC and verifies with an OTP valid for fifteen minutes. The scrip then sits in Transfer Pending until the transferee approves it. Either side can reject, which produces Transfer Rejected. The advisory is published by ICEGATE, and the sequence is walked through step by step in how to transfer a duty-credit scrip on ICEGATE.
Two things follow from that design. Nothing moves while a transfer is pending, which is exactly where counterparty risk lives in a privately negotiated deal: one side has committed the scrip and the other has not yet paid, or has paid and not yet received. And there is no limit on how many times a scrip can be transferred, so a scrip that has already changed hands is not damaged goods. Its two-year clock is the only thing that has moved on.
On Scriphouse the two legs are not left hanging. The scrip moves on ICEGATE and the money lands together, with payout the same day (T+0) against a bank UTR, and provenance screening runs before a scrip is listed at all. Selling a RoDTEP scrip online covers that path end to end.
What it is worth
Two different numbers, and confusing them is the most common pricing mistake.
Face value is what the scrip discharges against basic customs duty, rupee for rupee. A scrip with a face value of one lakh pays one lakh of basic customs duty. There is no discount when you use it on your own import: face is face. That is set out in duty-credit scrip face value explained.
Market value is what a buyer will pay you in cash for it today, and it sits below face, because the buyer is paying now for duty they will incur later and is taking the expiry risk. How wide that gap runs, and what moves it, belongs on the RoDTEP scrip rate today, with the mechanics in how duty-credit scrips are priced.
On the sale itself, the sale of a duty credit scrip is exempt from GST. Scrips fall under HSN 4907, and the exemption is at S. No. 137 of Notification 10/2025-Central Tax (Rate), effective 22-09-2025; a transfer made earlier cites the entry that was in force on its own date.
Where this instrument sits among the others
RoDTEP is notified up to 30 September 2026 by DGFT Notification 74/2025-26. If no continuation is notified, the scheme lapses on that date. That window governs when fresh exports earn credit; it is not the life of a scrip you already hold, because Regulation 6(2) dates validity from creation in the ledger.
RoSCTL is the parallel instrument, a Ministry of Textiles scheme for garments and made-up articles, also notified up to 30 September 2026 and subject to the same conditional truth. It issues the same kind of e-scrip into the same ledger and behaves identically once created.
MEIS and SEIS scrips are a different animal: legacy DGFT instruments, distinct from ICEGATE e-scrips in how they were issued and handled. MEIS, SEIS and legacy duty-credit scrips explains where they stand, and duty-credit scrips explained end to end puts the whole family in one place.
Frequently asked questions
What is a RoDTEP scrip in simple terms?
It is a transferable duty credit the government creates for you to remit taxes that were embedded in your exports and never refunded elsewhere. Rather than cash, you get an e-scrip in the Electronic Duty Credit Ledger on ICEGATE, carrying a face value, a creation date, a live balance and a status. It pays basic customs duty on imports, and it can be sold to someone who will use it.
What does the RoDTEP claim declaration mean?
It is the declaration made on the export shipping bill that you intend to claim RoDTEP on those goods. It is what starts the credit: without it on the shipping bill, no scroll is generated and no scrip is ever created, no matter how eligible the goods were. The exact entries and the one deadline that closes the claim are in how to claim RoDTEP in the shipping bill.
How do I get a RoDTEP scrip?
Four steps, and only the first one needs you. Claim RoDTEP on the shipping bill at the time of export. The claim is processed and a scroll is generated for the amount. The credit is then created in your Electronic Duty Credit Ledger on ICEGATE, with registration at the customs station of export automatic under Regulation 5. There is no separate application to file afterwards. Start with how to claim RoDTEP in the shipping bill.
What can a RoDTEP scrip pay, and what can it not?
It pays basic customs duty on an import, that is duties of customs under the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. It cannot pay IGST on imports, GST compensation cess or Social Welfare Surcharge. That single limit is why demand for scrips follows importers with heavy basic customs duty rather than importers with heavy total duty bills.
How long does a RoDTEP scrip last?
Two years from the date the credit is created in the ledger, under Regulation 6(2) of the Electronic Duty Credit Ledger Regulations, 2021, as amended by Notification 79/2022-Customs (N.T.). The clock does not reset on transfer, so a scrip in the hands of its third owner still expires on the date set when it was created, and the unused balance lapses then.
Can I sell a RoDTEP scrip if I do not import?
Yes. There is no limit on the number of times an e-scrip can be transferred, so an exporter with no import duty of their own can pass the credit to a buyer who has. On Scriphouse that is one firm quote, held for 60 seconds, with the scrip moving and the payout landing the same day (T+0) against a bank UTR.