With a view to facilitate movement of goods across national borders and improve India’s ease of doing business rank, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has directed the commerce ministry to take immediate steps on streamlining trade operations. The country ranked 146th among 190 countries in the latest edition of the World Bank's Trading Across Borders component of ease of doing business. As the ranking in this parameter is not good, the PMO has directed the ministry to take steps in this direction.
The newly set up logistics division of the Department of Commerce is working to significantly improve the position in the next year’s report. As part of the steps, the ministry has written to all the major stakeholders, including ports, customs, regulatory bodies such as Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to give all approvals and clearances in a paperless manner. They have asked to give all clearances for exports and imports online. Paper transaction needs to be eliminated as it increases inefficiencies.
The move would significantly help in reducing both time and cost of traders for taking different kinds of approvals. Although the government has reduced mandatory documents required for import and export of goods to three documents each, it takes time to get approval. The ministry has also asked customs to carry out ‘direct port delivery’ for majority of consignments with a view to speed up cargo movement.