New Delhi, Mar 20 (KNN) The Government of India is planning to set up an online fully integrated Single Window system for comprehensively providing all information and services to importers & exporters relating to International Trade. The move aims to improve ease of doing business environment in the country.

The single window system will provide all information and services related to EXIM approvals, clearances, trade agreements for import and exports of goods, including those related to accessing benefits under export promotion and export incentive schemes, across regulatory service provision agencies, entities including, but not confined to, Customs, Central Excise/ GST, State VAT/ GST, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Directorate of General Foreign Trade etc.

The proposed single window project would allow importers and exporters the facility to lodge their applications and clearance documents and obtain all necessary approvals and avail benefits electronically at a single point only in a digital paperless mode without any requirement of physical submission.

Required permissions, if any, including port/ shipping carrier from other regulatory agencies would be obtained online without the trader having to approach these agencies.

This would eliminate multiple interface with Government agencies, dwell time, track goods/ delivery from door to door and the cost of doing business.

In this regard, DIPP wants to rope in consulting agency to carry out a detailed study of different functionalities currently provided under the foreign trade umbrella across departments and identify gaps in integration that are found desirable to bridge and recommend specific actionable steps for achieving the proposed integration under single.

DIPP said Doing Business (DB) Report published every year by World Bank assesses and recommended largely on process simplification, weeding out of unnecessary documents, integrating and automating procedures across the Departments/Agencies involved and to minimise human interface, with 24x7 online operations and handling of consignments.

The rank of India out of 189 economies on ‘Trading Across Borders‘ indicator of 'Doing Business' report for 2015, 2016 and 2017 is declining as 126, 144 and 143 respectively.

The ranking on ‘Trading Across Borders‘ indicator is done by the World Bank on the basis of 3 parameters such as number of documentary compliance required for Export/Import; Time taken in the process of Export/Import; and Cost of exporting/importing a consignment.

DIPP said, “Taking cognizance of India‘s relatively poor ranking in DB 2014 Report, DIPP set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee under the Chairmanship of Director General Foreign Trade (DGFT) in July 2014 to analyse the status of various mandatory documents required for export/import and to give recommendations about possible reduction in their numbers.”

The recommendations will not only improve its export related procedures but also import procedures, as a very large part of Indian exports is dependent on imports and therefore higher transaction costs, time and number of documents for import also adversely affect India‘s trade and manufacturing competitiveness, DIPP said.

Further, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley  in his budget speech spoke about implementing Single Window Project, ―Under this, importers and exporters would lodge their clearance documents at a single point only.

Required permissions, if any, from other regulatory agencies would be obtained online without the trader having to approach these agencies.

This would reduce interface with governmental agencies, dwell time and the cost of doing business. DIPP said, “Accordingly, Government of India intends to launch ‘Single Window Online System for International Trade‘ to create a strong eco-system in the country by enabling any exporter or importer to avail seamless information and services for international trade of all products.  (KNN Bureau)