The export-import business in Kerala is undergoing a sea change from Wednesday with the State migrating to a completely integrated Customs system for facilitating online documentation and fast-tracking of consignment clearance.
Officials said the move was aimed at reducing the physical interface between Customs, other regulatory agencies, and traders to further enhance the speed of import cargo clearance.
For uploading digitally signed supporting documents, the department has introduced an e-sanchit facility, which will cover all types of imports under the Indian Customs EDI System (ICES).
“The facility, which was rolled out on a pilot basis at the Air Cargo Complex, New Delhi, and the Chennai Customs House, is now being extended to all EDI locations.
Hence, it has been made mandatory to upload all supporting documents making use of the facility with immediate effect,” said Sumit Kumar, Customs Commissioner, Kochi. The system, regarded as a non-intrusive way for clearance of goods, will also bring down the document processing time substantially.
Under the new system, no officer can insist on hard copy when a trader files documents online.
Hard copies of additional documents required during assessment will also have to follow the e-sanchit route.
The clients need to furnish original documents to the designated officer at the dock only during the time of granting ‘out of charge’.
According to officials, the streamlining of services is expected to raise the revenue of the Cochin Customs House, which netted a revenue of ₹2,932.55 crore in 2016 -17. In the first seven months of the current fiscal, the department recorded a revenue of ₹2,029.01 crore.
The Customs House in Kochi handles an average of 35,000-40,000 import documents and 4-5 lakh exports documents annually.
Meanwhile, the department has launched a special drive to liquidate all pending IGST refund claims by reaching out to all stakeholders, including freight forwarder, importers, and exporters. Officials said the drive, which would conclude by March 29, was being taken up in view of the finding that about ₹120 crore of IGST refunds of exports through the Cochin port was pending.
The delay was attributed primarily to bad data entry and invoice mismatch. The department had published a detailed list of the error codes to address the issue.
