Weekly newsletter from Chairman, CBIC dated 08/06/2023 provides insights into the developments and strides in Indian Customs, AEO program improvements, the launch of CBIC mSangrah, and anti-evasion measures taken by the department.
The CBIC plays an integral role in the facilitation of legitimate international trade, a driving force behind economic prosperity. Recognizing this, the newsletter highlights the adoption of the Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade (SAFE) by WCO members, signifying a new approach to managing goods across borders.
A key component of this framework is the Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) program. Under the oversight of the Directorate of International Customs (DIC), the AEO program has seen significant developments, with a decrease in processing time of applications and an increase in AEO base entities, indicative of successful measures undertaken to enhance user experience.
Furthermore, the CBIC’s digital initiative, CBIC mSangrah, a container application for all CBIC mobile apps, was launched to improve accessibility and user-friendliness.
In terms of anti-evasion actions, significant recoveries have been made in cases of tax evasion, and anti-smuggling activities have resulted in substantial seizures, highlighting the department’s commitment to ensuring compliance with tax regulations and maritime security.
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs
North Block, New Delhi-110 001
Tel. : +91-11-23092849, Fax : +91-11-23092890
E-mail : vivekjohri.irs@gov.in
DO No. 09/CH(IC)/2023
08th June, 2023
Legitimate international trade is an essential driver for economic prosperity. A disruption in global value chains can severely impact the global economy. It is in this context that Customs administrations play a crucial role in facilitating genuine trade while simultaneously protecting global value chains.
Keeping this in mind, the Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade (SAFE) Framework of Standards was adopted by World Customs Organization (WCO) Members. The Framework ushered in supply chain security standards and heralded the beginning of a new approach to end-to-end management of goods moving across borders and recognized the significance of a closer partnership between Customs and other stakeholders from the Trade.
The Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) program forms a key component of this framework. The Directorate of International Customs (DIC) administers the AEO program for Indian Customs. In the last few months a number of initiatives have been taken to enhance the user experience as well as ensure better monitoring of key deliverables.
This includes new dashboards and process flow reports for enabling real time monitoring. A number of measures have also been taken for enabling ease of compliance such as doing away with the need to furnish physical copies of documents for AEO applications.
As a result of these measures, the average processing time of AEO applications has come down from 160 days in November, 2022 to 104 days in March, 2023. Further, in the last financial year, a total of 1089 entities were added to the AEO base. Of these, 994 entities were added in the last eight months alone.
With this, our total AEO base stands at 5370 as of April, 2023 and represents imports valued in excess of Rs. I ,72,000 Crore. This corresponds to about a quarter of all Bills of Entry filed in 2022-23. Congratulations to Chief Commissioner in Directorate of International Customs and his team for their excellent work.
The week gone by also saw the launch of CBIC mSangrah, a container application for all mobile applications of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC). The app seeks to further ease the process of accessing and using CBIC mobile applications.
69 years ago, in 1954, a Land Customs Station (LCS) was operationalized at Nepalganj Road in Bahraich, UP. Last week, the LCS was upgraded to an Integrated Check Post (ICP), the first in Uttar Pradesh. Establishment of an ICP will provide a further boost to our trade relations with Nepal.
On the Anti-Evasion side, it was a busy week. Officers of CGST Ranchi Zone had earlier detected a case of availment of ineligible input tax credit for supply of exempted goods. Last week, Rs. 122 Crore was recovered in the case. With that the total recovery made in this case is to the tune of Rs 202 Crore.
On the anti-smuggling side, in three separate cases, officers from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) interdicted 43 kg of Gold valued at over Rs. 26 Crore. The cases included interception of a fishing boat and a joint operation with the Indian Coast Guard to recover gold from the seabed off the coast of Chennai.
In another case, a joint operation by Indian Coast Guard, DRI and our field formations, resulted in seizure of over 32 Kgs. of Gold valued in excess of Rs 20 Crores from two fishing boats attempting to smuggle the contraband, in the Gulf of Mannar off the coast of Tamil Nadu. Cases such as these highlight the important role essayed by Indian Customs in coastal and maritime security.
Further, continuing its drive against smuggled cigarettes, sleuths from the DRI seized more than 54 Lakh foreign-origin Cigarette sticks valued in excess of Rs. 10 Crore in Mizoram.
We bid adieu to our colleague, Dr. Sandeep Shrivastava, Principal Director General and an officer from the 1989 Batch, on his superannuation last week. I wish him all the best for all his future endeavors.
Till next week!
Yours Sincerely,
(Vivek Johri)
All Officers and Staff of Central Board of Indirect Taxes 86 Customs
