Pandemic reforms a boost for ease of doing business
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 fasttrack 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 a June 8 letter reviewed by 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 February 20, followed by a series of steps to simplify procedures.
That included setting up a single-window Covid-19 helpdesk, automated release of consignments all over the country from March 5, 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.