NEW DELHI: After rolling out the most comprehensive indirect tax reform – the goods and services tax – the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government is set to unleash the next generation of changes to the customs duty architecture to speed up India’s trade and improve the Ease of Doing Business.
The proposed changes seek to do away with face-to-face contact with tax officials, automate the release of goods and ensure e-traceability of shipments, measures that can substantially reduce corruption and allow faster movement of merchandise.
“We want to go in for something which will be radically different from what we have been doing. We are going to venture into a new territory called faceless assessment... We could start a pilot in a month’s time,” Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs Chairman S Ramesh said recently. Ramesh, who took over as Chairman in June, said the idea is to work towards getting into the top 50 ranking of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business. In the ‘trading across borders’ category, India leapt to 80th rank from 146th.
Faceless Interface
Elaborating on the proposed ‘faceless’ assessment, Ramesh said the board will soon initiate discussions with the trade and examine if any legal or statutory changes would be required. He said the ideal situation would be that goods landing in Nhava Sheva (Mumbai) can be assessed in Chennai and shipments in one category, say motorcars, can be assessed at one location, allowing development of specialisation and expertise.
“This is where the world is going. This is one of the best practices of the World Customs Organisation… Scope for rent seeking will absolutely vanish and speed of clearance will go up manifold,” he said.
Ease of Doing Business
Ramesh said internal brainstorming is going on to see how India can take the next quantum leap in the Doing Business ranking. “Virtual groups have been formed… We feel we need to build upon what has been done,” he said, adding that the customs proposes to expand the E-Sanchit facility, which allows importers to upload all documents online, to exporters.
It plans to bring export promotion councils and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade on board the customs portal to make the whole experience seamless and paperless for exporters in the next two to three months. Ramesh said that as part of the national trade facilitation programme, the Cabinet Secretary has written to ports to streamline their infrastructure for smooth and speedier cargo movement. Port IT systems are being integrated with the customs portal.
