Indian imports braked by tech glitch in new customs clearance application

The new customs duty payment system introduced on April 1 this year continues to face challenges and glitches due to which the customs payment got delayed. To overcome the challenge, the finance ministry decided to forego the demurrage charges as well as penal interest charges on the delayed customs payment.

On the other hand, special measures have been put in place to expedite the clearance of imports of perishable and pharma goods that were in the cold chain, liquid bulk cargo as well as in government consignments.

In an order, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said its Directorate General of Systems is giving a face-lift to integration mechanisms for data exchange, but a number of cases have been unable to complete the process due to unexpected technical difficulties on the Common Portal and with the authorized banks. CBIC acknowledged the difficulties experienced by members of the trade in making duty payments on the new customs automated systems and the tech team is working to fix the issues and it will be resolved at the earliest.