Launch of Exchange Rate Automation Module (ERAM) – Reg

The Office of the Principal Commissioner of Customs in Chennai has announced the launch of the Exchange Rate Automation Module (ERAM) via the ICEGATE Portal, effective from 4th July 2024. This module automates the publication of exchange rates, which are currently manually notified twice a month based on rates from the State Bank of India. The ERAM system will streamline the process by integrating SBI’s exchange rate data directly into ICEGATE, with rates adjusted to the nearest five paise and published at 6:00 p.m. on the first and third Thursdays of each month. If fluctuations exceed ±5% on a given day, rates will be re-notified. The system will ensure accessibility to historical rates and has a contingency plan for technical issues, including manual interventions and alerts. For further information, users can refer to the ICEGATE website and contact the Additional Commissioner of Customs (EDI) in Chennai for clarifications.

OFFICE OF THE PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (GENERAL)
CHENNAI CUSTOMS ZONE
CUSTOM HOUSE, NO.60, RAJAJI SALAI, CHENNAI 600 001.

F No: GEN/EDI/ADV/1/2024-EDI

Date: 05-08-2024

Public Notice: 38/2024

Subject: Launch of Exchange Rate Automation Module (ERAM) – Reg

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Kind attention of the Officers, Importers, Exporters, Customs Brokers and trading public is invited. It is informed that the Exchange Rate Automation Module (ERAM) has been launched by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in ICEGATE Portal to automate the process of publishing exchange rates.

2. In terms of Section 14 of the Customs Act 1962, the value of any imported goods or export goods shall be calculated with reference to the rate of exchange as in force on the date on which a Bill of Entry is presented under Section 46, or a Shipping Bill/Bill of Export is presented under Section 50. For this purpose, Board currently notifies exchange rates of 22 currencies twice a month, i.e. every 1st and 3rd Thursdays. These notified exchange rates become effective from midnight of the following day. Where a due date, i.e. 1st or 3rd Thursday, falls on a holiday, the rates are notified on the previous working day.

3. Further, on a given day, if it is noticed that exchange rate of a currency has fluctuated more than ± 5% vis-a-vis the notified rate, the rate for that currency is re-notified with effect from the following day.

4. These notifications are based on the rates obtained from the State Bank of India (SBI) on a daily basis. The SBI communicates ‘card rates’ which include ‘Bill rates’, ‘TT rates’ and ‘TC rates’ to CBIC every day. While the Bill rates are used in transactions related to Letters of Credit, the TT rates are used in telegraphic transfers and TC rates for travelers’ cheques. The rates notified by the Board are the Bill rates (for transaction up to Rs. 10 lakh) received from SBI, adjusted to the nearest five paise.

5. The existing process of notifying exchange rates is manual. Also, the rates so notified are manually incorporated in the Indian Customs EDI System (ICES) by an officer designated for this purpose.

6. It has now been decided to automate the aforesaid process of issuing exchange rates, beginning with forwarding of exchange rate data by SBI to ICEGATE through message exchange. The exchange rates received from SBI shall be adjusted to the nearest five paise and integrated with ICES. These exchange rates shall be published on ICEGATE website at 6:00 p.m. as per the existing frequency and shall be accessible for public viewing on ICEGATE website i.e. https://www.icegate.gov.in.

7. These rates, so published online, shall come into effect from midnight of the following day. For instance, exchange rates published on the evening of 11th July 2024 shall come into force from 00:00 hrs of 12th July 2024 and shall remain in force till the next revision.

8. The published exchange rates will be stored and shall remain accessible on ICEGATE for future reference, so as to enable a user to check the exchange rates for a previous date.

9. As a contingency plan for catering to any technical snag, the following procedure shall be followed for ensuring uninterrupted accessibility of exchange rates at any given time:

i. Nodal Officers have been appointed in the SBI, Board, ICD (Patparganj), Air Cargo Complex (Bengaluru) and DG (Systems) to monitor and manually intervene, where needed.

ii. Nodal Officer at ICD (Patparganj) shall continue to monitor the exchange rates in ICES as per the current practice. If any issue is noticed or in case of any unforeseen exigencies, he shall inform the Nodal Officer in DG (System) to take corrective action.

iii. Where, on a due date when the rates are to be published, there is a failure in electronic transmission from SBI or an incomplete message is received, the last updated rates shall remain in force for the following day and the rates shall be revised the following day by 6:00 p.m. to apply from 00:00 hrs of the next day.

iv. Where, on a due date when the rates are to be published, the exchange rates received from SBI fail to get integrated on ICES by 6:00 p.m., the message received from SBI shall be discarded and the last updated rates shall remain in force for the following day. The rates shall be revised the following day by 6:00 p.m. to apply from 00:00 hrs of the next day.

v. As soon as the situation indicated at (iii) or (iv) above is encountered, an automated email and SMS alert will be sent to the Nodal Officers at ICD (Patparganj), Air Cargo Complex (Bengaluru), DG (System), SBI and the Board for corrective action. If the issue remains unresolved for consecutive two days, the exchange rates shall be updated on the System through manual intervention using the !admin! interface by the Nodal Officer at ICD (Patparganj).

10. The automated system of ascertaining and publishing of exchange rates, as above, came into effect from 1st Thursday of July 2024, i.e., 4th July 2024, upon which the existing system of notifying exchange rates through a notification has been dispensed with. A link has also been provided on the CBIC website which will take the user to the ICEGATE website, where the published rates will be available for viewing.

11. The exchange rates published in the ICEGATE website can be accessed by clicking here. It is advised to refer to the User Manual on ERAM (enclosed as Annexure) for further details.

12. For clarifications, if any, w.r.t this Public Notice, can be sought from the Additional Commissioner of Customs (EDI), General Commissionerate, Chennai by Email ID: [email protected] or [email protected].

GEN/EDI/ADV/1/2024-EDI-O/o-Comm-Cus-Gen-Chennai I/2184000/2024

(Authority: Circular No. 07/2024-Customs dated 25.06.2024)

R. SRINIVASA NAIK
PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS
CHENNAI GENERAL COMMISSIONERATE

Copy to:

1. The Chief Commissioner of Customs, Chennai Customs Zone.

2. All the Pr.Commissioners/Commissioners in Chennai Customs Zone.

3. All the ADC/JC/DC/Assistant Commissioners of Customs, Chennai-VII (Air Cargo).

4. EDI for publication in Chennai Customs Intranet.

5. Notice Board.

6. Office Copy.

Indian Customs Electronic GatewayExchange Rate

Automation Module (FRAM) on ICEGATE 2.0 User Manual

Version 1.01

Introduction

The present manual explains the steps involved in using the Exchange Rate facility on ICEGATE 2.0. This automated facility of ascertaining and publishing the exchange rates at ICEGATE will replace the existing manual process, and shall come into effect from July 04, 2024.

The exchange rates of 22 currencies would now be published online in advance for ease of consumption by all importers and exporters. These exchange rates would be made available on the ICEGATE website twice a month i.e., on the evening of the first and third Thursdays of the month and would be effective from midnight of the following day. Detailed procedural modality has been explained in the Circular 07/2024-Customs dated June 25, 2024.

The published exchange rates will be stored in the system and will remain accessible on ICEGATE for future reference, so as to enable a user to check the rates for a previous day. The user can easily access the currency rates by clicking the “View Exchange Rate” link on the ICEGATE website.

2. Currency Code List

The following is the list of currency codes are as under:

3. Viewing Exchange Rates on ICEGATE

(a) The user can access the “View Exchange Rate” functionality by clicking the “Quick Links” menu. The following screen will be visible to the user:

(b) On clicking the link above, the user will be redirected to the “View Currency Exchange Rate” page to view exchange rates of the currency.

(c) The user will have to enter currency details namely “Currency Code”, “Exchange Rate Date” and “Captcha code” to view the currency exchange rate.

(d) The user will have the option to select the specific currency code, or they can request for all the exchange rates by selecting an option “All” from the “Currency Code” dropdown menu to view the currency exchange rates for twenty-two foreign currencies as show in the screen below:

(e) The user will have to select the date of currency exchange rate. They can also select past dates to view exchange rates.

(f) The user will be shown the Exchange rates for the requested date and currency code in the below format. If the user input was “All” then all the Currency codes will be displayed else a specific currency code can be selected by the user to view.

4. Contact Us

The contact details are as follows:

Additional Director General, ICEGATE

Director General of Systems & Data Management, CBIC

1St Floor, CR Building, IP Estate,

New Delhi — 110 109

Toll Free No: 1800-3010-1000

The user can also drop their queries at:

Email: [email protected]