Two interrelated inquiries recently emerged regarding the Indian Customs department’s Manufacture and Other Operations in Warehouse Regulations (MOOWR) scheme. The first asked whether any manufacturer in India is producing megawatt-scale battery systems under this framework. Under MOOWR, raw materials and capital goods enter duty-free if the resulting finished goods are exported. If goods are cleared for domestic sale instead, payment of basic customs duty and integrated GST is deferred until the point of clearance. The scheme imposes no time limits on storing goods in customs-bonded warehouses and applies equally to large conglomerates and smaller manufacturers. It offers a practical route for companies to set up assembly operations before progressing to full-scale manufacturing.
The second inquiry provided a practical answer. An entrepreneur inquired whether bonded warehouse space is available near Trivandrum port to import raw materials from Europe, undertake value addition, and re-export the finished goods under MOOWR. With the port’s gates now open for export-import traffic, commercial interest of this nature is beginning to focus directly on TRV.
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