"The government has issued a notification providing refund of service tax paid by exporters on four taxable services, which are not in the nature of input services but could be linked to export goods," said a Finance Ministry statement.

The government collects 12 per cent service tax along with 3 per cent education cess on services.

Exporters already get refund of service tax paid by them on input services used for exports. Drawback scheme also factors service tax paid on input services used for exporting goods.

In July, the Finance Ministry had provided a financial package of Rs 1,400 crore (Rs 14 billion) to exporters, especially to the textile, handloom, handicraft and other labour-intensive industries, to cushion the impact of rupee appreciation.

The Indian unit has appreciated by over eight per cent since January this year.      

Although Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath had announced government's intention to exempt exporters from service tax in the April supplement of Annual Foreign Trade Policy, the Finance Ministry took about six months to issue a notification in this regard.