India has significantly improved its ranking in terms of trade facilitation due to various reforms undertaken by various departments especially customs under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIC). A finance ministry statement said India has scored 90.32 per cent in United Nation's Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific's (UNESCAP) latest Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation.
The survey hails this as a remarkable jump from 78.49 per cent in 2019. The Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation is conducted every two years by UNESCAP. The 2021 survey includes an assessment of 58 trade facilitation measures covered by the WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement. After evaluation of 143 economies, the 2021 survey has highlighted India's significant improvement in the scores on all five key indicators... Transparency improved to 100 per cent in 2021 from 93.33 per cent in 2019, formalities rose to 95.83 per cent in 2021 from 87.5 per cent in 2019 while institutional arrangement and cooperation jumped improved to 88.89 per cent in 2021 from 66.67 per cent in 2019.
CBIC has been at forefront of path breaking reforms under the umbrella of 'Turant' Customs to usher in a faceless, paperless and contactless customs by way of a series of reforms. This has had a direct impact in terms of the improvement in the UNESCAP rankings on digital and sustainable trade facilitation.