The Indian department of revenue under the finance ministry is conducting the country’s first national Time Release Study (TRS) in the first week of August to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of international trade flows as part of its strategic commitment to improve global trade. The exercise will now be done during the same period every year.

The TRS is an internationally recognized tool advocated by World Customs Organisation.

This initiative for accountable governance, will measure rule-based and procedural bottlenecks in the clearance of goods, from the time of arrival until the physical release of cargo, according to an official release.

The aim is to identify and address bottlenecks in the trade flow process and take the corresponding policy and operational measures required to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of border procedures, without compromising efficient trade control.

Expected beneficiaries of this initiative will be export oriented industries and micro, small and medium enterprises, who will enjoy greater standardisation of Indian processes with comparable international standards.

This initiative will help India maintain the upward trajectory on Ease of Doing Business, particularly on the Trading Across Borders indicator which measures the efficiency of the cross border trade ecosystem.

Last year India’s ranking on the indicator improved from 146 to 80. Individual customs formations had been independently conducting TRS studies at the port level earlier.

The exercise will be conducted at the same time across 15 sea, air, land and dry ports, which cumulatively account for 81 per cent of total bills of entries for import and 67 per cent of shipping bills for export filed within India.

Based on the results of the TRS, government agencies associated with cross border trade will diagnose existing and potential bottlenecks that act as barriers to the free flow of trade and take remedial action for reducing cargo release time.

The initiative on the ground is led by the Central Board of Indirect Tax and Customs. (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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