MOOWR Scheme Explained: A CFO's Guide to Section 65

What duties are deferred

Basic Customs Duty (BCD) — typically 5–10% of CIF value.

Social Welfare Surcharge (SWS) — 10% of BCD.

Integrated GST (IGST) on imports — 5%, 12%, 18% or 28% on BCD-loaded value.

Anti-Dumping Duty (ADD), Safeguard Duty and Countervailing Duty where applicable.

On exports of the manufactured output, all of the above are permanently waived. On DTA (domestic) clearance, duty becomes payable — but only on the import value of the inputs consumed, not on your value-added selling price.

Who qualifies

Any Indian manufacturer or person carrying out 'other operations' on imported goods can apply. There is no minimum turnover threshold and no export obligation. The applicant must hold ownership or a long-term lease of the premises and demonstrate operational control.

MOOWR sits independently of EOU, SEZ, EPCG and Advance Authorisation. It can co-exist with PLI, RoDTEP and most state industrial incentives.

The cash-flow logic

Take a plant importing ₹120 Cr of inputs annually with a blended effective duty of 22% (BCD + IGST + SWS). That's ₹26.4 Cr of customs duty — paid at the port, recovered weeks or months later through GST credit and finished-goods sales.

MOOWR keeps that ₹26.4 Cr inside the business until the goods are sold domestically (or waives it entirely on exports). At a 9% cost of working capital, the carry saving alone is ~₹2.4 Cr per year — recurring, every year, with no offsetting compliance cost beyond standard input-output records.

What MOOWR is not

It is not a duty exemption — DTA clearances do crystallise duty. The benefit is timing and elimination of duty on the export portion.

It is not an income-tax incentive. It operates entirely within Customs and GST.

It does not replace export incentives. RoDTEP, Drawback and Duty-Free Import Authorisation continue to apply on the export side.