In a move aimed at providing continued relief to the exporting community, the GST Council, in its 26th meeting held on 10 March 2018, decided to extend the existing tax exemptions on imported goods used for exports by a further six months beyond 31 March 2018. As a result, exporters availing benefits under various export promotion schemes were allowed to continue importing goods without payment of GST or IGST up to 1 October 2018. The decision was taken to avoid disruption to exports, as the proposed e-Wallet scheme—intended as a long-term solution to prevent cash blockage for exporters—required additional time for addressing technical, legal, and administrative challenges. The Council reviewed the progress made by the Working Group constituted to operationalise the e-Wallet system and, noting that substantial work was still pending, agreed to defer its implementation by six months to 1 October 2018. In the interim, the existing arrangements, including exemptions on imports and special concessional schemes for merchant exporters, were extended for the same period. The Council also reviewed the status of export refunds and noted improvement in the pace of IGST refunds, directing GSTN to expedite the forwarding of pending refund claims to the concerned authorities for prompt sanction and disbursal. These decisions were aimed at easing liquidity constraints faced by exporters, ensuring continuity of export incentives, and reinforcing confidence in the GST framework.