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Commerce ministry’s new Turant scheme eases customs procedures for pharma companies
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Nandita Vijay, Bengaluru
August 25 , 2020
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The Union ministry of commerce has brought in a major transformation on the ease of doing business in the customs department by launching Turant, a contactless scheme, which has led to faster clearances by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs by maximizing use of technology for companies.
Pharma industry views it is as a major transformation as it has done away with the usual interface with the customs officers and has brought in the required consistency in reviewing the global trading protocols. It brings down the transaction costs and eliminates the practice of port shopping for favourable assessments. Further, it gives a boost to the country’s competitiveness in the world market. Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange System (ICES) now operational at 245 major customs locations handles almost all the of India’s imports and export goods.
According to Sunil Attavar, president, Karnataka Drugs and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, this is a good policy change and now it is all online and based on risk assessment. So far, the industry has not faced any glitches except when there are network connectivity issues and the server is down when companies have some delays. However these are minor and will surely improve. All in all it is definitely a positive move for the sector.
The ambit of the programme covers automated clearance of bills of entry, digitization of customs documents, paperless clearance, faceless assessment and creation of the Turant Suvidha Kendra. The first phase of this contactless programme took off in Bengaluru and Chennai and the second phase from Mumbai and Delhi. The government hopes to achieve all-India target by January 2021.
The COVID-19 lockdown which posed challenges in the area of exports, led the government to come up with this scheme, which was implemented from July 6, 2020. The scheme eliminates cumbersome procedures brings in transparency.
Paperless processes which came into effect from June 22, mandated only digital copy of shipping bill bearing final Letter of Export Order to be provided to the exporter. An E-Gate Pass PDF copy of the shipping bill will be communicated to the customs brokers and exporter via email.
Stating that the Turant Customs programme is a significant change into India’s international trade landscape, Jatish N Sheth, director, Srushti Pharmaceuticals and Steering Committee member KDPMA noted that the scheme was the next best thing to happen after the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) under Foreign Trade Policy of India which went digital and was introduced two decades ago.
While Srushti Pharmaceuticals will be using the Turant scheme next week, he said that duty drawback introduced by the government in October 2019 also brought in a similar ease of doing business. The only thing is that from now on submissions by the pharma companies who import materials need to complete and error free. There is also no choice for the customs department but to instantly give the clearance as per the system. Therefore this is a good move, noted Sheth.
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