Turant Customs | 24 Jun 2020

Why in News

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) unveiled a Secure QR coded Shipping Bill that would be electronically sent to exporters.

  • This will enable end to end paperless exports under ‘Turant Customs’.

Key Points

  • This step has been taken by CBIC for fulfilling its commitment to a Faceless, Paperless, and Contactless Customs under the umbrella of its “Turant Customs” programme.
    • The launch of paperless documentation on exports is a sequel to a similar initiative that was begun for imports w.e.f. 15th April 2020.
  • Green Customs: These initiatives will do away with the present requirement to take paper printout of these documents thereby promoting Green Customs.
  • Business Friendly: Equally importantly exporters would not have to visit the Customs Houses for this purpose and can better utilize their time in promoting their business.
  • Implementation: Turant Customs, which has as its main component Faceless Assessment, would be implemented in phases across the entire country by 1st January 2021.
  • Benefits: These reforms are based on enhanced use of digital technology to reduce the time and costs for the importers, exporters and other stakeholders, thereby improving India’s ranking in the World Bank’s “Trading Across Borders” parameter of its Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) index.
    • India improved to rank 80 on “Trading Across Borders” parameter as compared with 146 in 2018.
    • This was possible due to reforms like Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade, e-Sanchit (e-Storage and computerised handling of indirect tax documents), and Direct Port Delivery.
  • Other Recent Initiatives: Ministry of Finance (Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs) also launched two Information Technology (IT) initiatives - ICEDASH and ATITHI.
    • ICEDASH- For improved monitoring of customs clearance of imported goods.
    • ATITHI- For facilitating arriving international passengers.

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs

  • CBIC is a part of the Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance.
  • The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) was renamed as the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in 2018 after the roll out of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
  • CBIC deals with the tasks of formulation of policy concerning levy and collection of Customs, Central Excise duties, Central Goods & Services Tax and Integrated GST, prevention of smuggling.

Way Forward

  • A better rank in ease of doing business and greater awareness about opportunities in Indian business sector would attract foreign investors to invest in India and will also bring advanced technologies to the country.
  • However, it would be unwise to judge the state of the business activity by observing movements in the ease of doing business index as it is just the reflection of regulatory measures taken in two big cities of Delhi and Mumbai and that too on limited parameters.
  • Therefore, more comprehensive measures must be taken, which would not only improve ease of doing business ranking, but also lead to a better business environment and greater prosperity for all.

Source: PIB