Mangaluru customs observes International Customs Day

Mangaluru, Jan 27: The officers and staff of the Customs Commissionerate, Mangaluru, celebrated the International Customs Day on Saturday, January 27 along with other stakeholders viz., importers, exporters, customs brokers, special public prosecutor, airlines and officers from Central Excise & Central tax, Income Tax and state government officials. This year’s theme is dedicated to the security of business environment with the slogan “A Secure Business Environment for Economic Development”.

The chief guest for the function was Prof. K. Umamaheshwar Rao, Director, NITK, Surathkal, Mangaluru and Suresh P. Shirwadkar, Chairman (i/c), NMPT, Mangaluru was the guest of honour. Dr. M. Subramanyam, Commissioner presided over the function.

Subramanyam in his keynote address highlighted that in line with the theme of the World Customs Organization to create a business environment more stable and predictable by streamlining procedures, tackling corruption, enhancing integrity and facilitating the movement of goods, conveyances and people in general, the Commissionerate has prioritized the task of popularizing Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) among all the stake holders so as to reap benefits of facilitated clearances and incentives provided for such entities.

Highlighting the interdependence of trade and security in the current global scenario, he informed that there are 14 AEOs operating in the Customs House and some of them are awarded this year.  He has added that the National Trade Facilitation  Action Plan unveiled by Hon’ble Finance Minister had 51 activities out of 76 which have been rated as more facilitating than prescribed by the WTO and is hailed as the best practice. It is expected that such Agreement would reduce trade costs 13-14% by streamlining the trade.

Speaking about reduced cargo release time, he informed that the dwell time taken for Customs last month was 0.54 days for imports and 0.65 days for exports. In terms of the Action plan, the overall release time is 3 days for sea cargo and 2 days for air cargo in respect of imports and 2 days for sea cargo and the same day for air cargo in respect of exports. Detailing the facilitation at Mangaluru, it was informed that 93% of export consignments and 64% of import consignments were facilitated i.e., without any examination and assessment. It has been informed that import facilitation could be further 20% more, had the procedural issues of bond clearance been addressed since bulk cargo is the major portion of import cargo at this port.

The distinction achieved by this commissionerate is to get a comprehensive certificate from Bureau of Indian Standards covering all its formations. All ports under this jurisdiction are now EDI enabled. Speaking about the facilitation extended during the transition to GST regime, the Commissioner informed that several interactions were held to sensitize the trade about the new requirements and also impressed upon to ensure the information furnished in GST returns and Customs documents is identical for speedy refund sanctions. Appreciating the excellent coordination and cooperation with the stakeholders viz. New Mangalore Port Trust, Airport Authority of India, CISF, Airlines, Immigration etc., the Commissioner informed that the same is crystallizing in sharing of inputs of mutual benefit. In this context, he informed that Mangaluru Customs was the first in implementing e-sealing procedure in the country.

On passenger facilitation, the Commissioner informed that over 97.76% passengers have opted for green channel and the Department is increasingly adopting non-intrusive techniques to further improve facilitation using the available data and passenger profiling techniques. In this regard, he highlighted the online Customs guide for international passengers which has been found be very useful by passengers and travel agencies. The commissionerate has been taking several proactive measures in respect of departmental lands across the coast and getting them fenced for proper protection and upkeep. In this regard, the Old Port at Bunder will be spruced up soon.

Detailing the performance of marine wing, it was informed that the performance of this section has been hailed as one of the best by the central inspection team in spite of having acute shortage of staff.

The commissioner informed that facilitation and enforcement have to go side by side and accordingly, they have started new Air Intelligence Unit for airport and Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch for sea port. During this year, so far, 57 cases involving Rs. 5.41 cr. have been detected, of which 62% were gold seizures involving several modus operandi. In the last couple of years, SIIB has detected cases involving revenue over Rs. 5 crores. The sections hitherto not yielding much results have started showing success due to revamping of systems and thorough analysis as in the case of Post Clearance Audit (PCA) detecting evasion of over Rs. 2 crores this month. The disposal of seized contraband yielded Rs.5.16 crores revenue this year and arrears to the tune of Rs.12 crores were realized this year.

The Commissionerate has realized revenue of Rs. 2022 cr. upto first fortnight of January 2018 as against the target of Rs.2300 crores for this financial year. It was informed that the Chemical Laboratory is being upgraded and once it is upgraded efforts will be initiated to get it certified by the relevant accredited  agency.

The Guest of Honour, Shri Suresh P. Shirwadkar in his address has spoken about the theme of Security of Business Environment for Economic Development from perspective of the port and importance of co-ordination between Customs and Port for smooth clearance of cargo and trade facilitation.

The Chief Guest Prof. K. Umamaheshwar Rao while sharing his experiences with several customs formations across the world, compared the enforcement in other countries like Korea and gave a comparison to Indian Customs. He felt that the theme of this year is very relevant for improved movement of goods across the borders.

On this occasion, Adani Wilmar Pvt. Ltd. was conferred the award for top revenue contributor; Indian Oil Corporation was awarded for substantial growth in revenue contribution; Mangalore Refineries & Petrochemicals Ltd was awarded for the highest export performance, KIOCL was awarded for substantial growth in exports; Cargolinks as the customs broker was awarded for handling highest customs documents and Atlantic Shipping Pvt. Ltd. as the steamer agent was awarded for handling highest number of vessels. Further, UPCL, Yashaswi Fish Meal & Oil Co, and Delta Infralogistics (Worldwide) were also awarded for their contribution towards secure business environment. The recipient of the President’s Certificate of Appreciation for outstanding service, Allen Rajesh Vas, Senior Intelligence Officer (DG GSTI) was also felicitated on the occasion. 

The commendation certificates were also distributed to the outstanding officers at various levels for their contribution to respective areas of the commissionerate.