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Business News/ News / India/  Covid-19 pandemic fast-tracks govt’s ease of doing business plan
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Covid-19 pandemic fast-tracks govt’s ease of doing business plan

The idea is to ensure physical distancing and fast-track clearance of goods, saving costs for importers

The World Bank has flagged cross-border trade as a key area that needs reforms. (Photo: Bloomberg)Premium
The World Bank has flagged cross-border trade as a key area that needs reforms. (Photo: Bloomberg)

The coronavirus pandemic is reshaping how the government is interacting with businesses and its citizens.

With the pandemic-related disruptions upending processes that need physical inspections and lengthy paper trails, the government is shedding its rigid ways to adopt new systems, including digitization, to eliminate hurdles for businesses.

For instance, when finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman met businesses in mid-February when the outbreak was raging in China, the biggest fear conveyed by executives was a shortage of raw materials from India’s northern neighbour, with supplies barely lasting two to three weeks.

That set off a series of steps to overhaul India’s handling of cross-border trade. And, on 8 June, a critical experiment in customs reforms—faceless assessment—went live. Such assessments have now been rolled out at Chennai and Bengaluru, starting with mechanical, electrical and electronic machinery, and will be gradually scaled up across the country by the end of the year. The idea is to eliminate discretion in decision-making, ensure physical distancing and fast-track clearance of goods, saving time and costs for importers.

M. Ajit Kumar, chairman of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, earlier this week told field officials to “leave no stone unturned" in rolling out and scaling up faceless assessment to make it uniform and speedy. “Faceless assessment would be a complete departure from existing manner of customs assessment," Kumar told officials in an 8 June letter reviewed by Mint.

Industry executives said that the move will particularly benefit small businesses.

“It will help in avoiding delays even if officials are not able to be physically present at workplace during the pandemic," said Chandrakant Salunkhe, founder and president of SME Chamber of India and SME Importers Association of India.

In its ease of doing business reports, the World Bank had flagged cross-border trade as a key area that needed reforms. In its 2020 report, India was among the top 10 countries that made progress in ease of doing business, including in cross-border trade.

The disruptions caused by the pandemic gave it momentum, with the government announcing round-the-clock clearance of goods at all customs facilities on 20 February, followed by a series of steps to simplify procedures. That included setting up a single-window covid helpdesk, automated release of consignments all over the country from 5 March, provisional clearance of goods with preferential treatment without original certificate of origin, personal hearing through videoconferencing, a drive to clear pending refunds and exemption of demurrage charges during the lockdown.

“The introduction of faceless assessment in customs would significantly improve the ease of doing business; however, it needs to be extended to all products and across all ports in order to achieve the required degree of uniformity and anonymity in assessments,“ said M.S. Mani, tax partner at Deloitte India.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gireesh Chandra Prasad
Gireesh has over 22 years of experience in business journalism covering diverse aspects of the economy, including finance, taxation, energy, aviation, corporate and bankruptcy laws, accounting and auditing.
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Published: 12 Jun 2020, 12:16 AM IST
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