India initiates measures to ease customs norms In order to boost the international trade, India has initiated measures to ease customs norms. The government has decided to set up a national committee which will have representation from 7-8 departments to look after all aspects of trade facilitation. The committee will suggest and implement measurers to ensure seamless movement of cargo by addressing constraints like high transaction costs and poor infrastructure. The move to ease custom norms came after the government blocked an international agreement on easing trade regulations. On July 31, India vetoed the trade facilitation agreement at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), arguing that there should be parallel deal on food security issue. However, India is fully committed to trade facilitation which is aimed at simplifying customs procedure, reducing transactions cost and increasing transparency. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his US visit, had told President Barack Obama that trade facilitation was important for India and it expected the US support in addressing Indias concerns over public stockholding for food security. Moreover, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in its budget speech had said that the government will allocate significant funds towards trade facilitation and provide facility like extension of 24x7 customs clearance facilities to many more ports, airports and sea ports.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 07:07:48 +0000
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