Implementing the ‘Make in India’ campaign in letter and spirit, India has taken the inititaitve of improving ‘Ease of Doing Business’ by heavily cutting down documentation process. It has reduced the mandatory documents required for import and export of goods to three documents each
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued a Notification to this effect.
The move comes after the Department of Commerce set up an Inter Ministerial Committee under the Chairmanship of DGFT in July 2014 to study and recommend ways to reduce the number of mandatory documents required for export and import.
The Committee held detailed discussions with all stakeholders and the concerned Departments/ Ministries/Agencies and also visited JNPT to study the ground situation and find ways to minimize the number of documents and reduce transaction costs and time for exports and imports.
The Committee submitted its “Trading Across Borders” report to Prime Minister’s Office in December 2014.
Based on the recommendations of the report, the RBI has agreed to do away with the ‘Foreign Exchange Control Form (SDF)’ by incorporating the declaration in the ‘Shipping Bill’ (for exports) and dispensing with the ‘Foreign Exchange Control Form (Form A-1)’ (for imports).
Customs have also agreed to merge the ‘Commercial Invoice’ with the ‘Packing List’ and have issued a Circular for accepting ‘Commercial Invoice cum Packing List’ that incorporates the required details of both the documents.
The exporters and importers, however, have the option of filing separate ‘Commercial Invoice’ and ‘Packing List’ also, if they so desire. Shipping Ministry has also agreed to do away with the requirement of ‘Terminal Handling Receipt’ and make the process online.
It may be recalled that India ranked 126 in ‘Trading Across Borders” component of “Ease of Doing Business”, out of 189 countries ranked by the World Bank, in its 2015 Report. The ranking methodology adopted by the World Bank for ‘Trading Across Border’ takes into account the number of mandatory documents required for export and import and the time and cost of exporting/importing a container out of/into the country.
[Source: SupportBiz]
