- Reducing cargo dwell times remains a key priority for CBIC in the current fiscal year
- CBIC aims to eliminate trade bottlenecks to improve cross-border trade speed and competitiveness
- AI will be used to analyze scanned container images to enhance customs risk assessment
Reducing cargo stay times and eliminating trade barriers are the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs' major operating priorities for the current fiscal year.
Yogendra Garg, member (Customs), CBIC, told ANI on Thursday that India will concentrate on eliminating trade-related bottlenecks during the current fiscal year because, despite yearly advances, cargo dwell times continue to exceed international norms.
Garg stated that cutting stay times is still a top priority for customs officials while speaking on the sidelines of an outreach event on legislative changes for the express industry. "Although we have been cutting dwell times year after year, we are still far from the best in the world; hence, this fiscal year, we would like to remove obstacles," Garg told ANI.
He stated that efforts are being made by customs authorities to enhance trade facilitation and increase the speed and competitiveness of cross-border trade.
Garg emphasised the importance of technology by stating that cargo handling and customs inspections will be significantly impacted by artificial intelligence (Al). "You would have read in the budget that we also announced that all of the containers would be examined and that Al would analyse the scanned photographs," he stated.
AI-based analysis of scanned photos of containers will improve risk assessment, decrease manual intervention, and expedite customs processes, according to Garg. "That will remove the friction points, so we expect that substantial dwell time will be reduced when it is put in place," he stated.
His comments were made during an outreach campaign designed to seek input from the business and increase awareness of the policy changes made for the express courier industry in the Union Budget 2026-2027.
According to Garg, the government's most recent budget addressed several long-standing demands of the express courier sector. "We took into account the long-standing demands of the express courier industry in this budget," he stated.
The elimination of the Rs 10 lakh value cap per package for exporting via courier is one of the major reforms. According to Garg, the action was especially crucial for industries like jewellery and gems that export expensive goods.
He stated, "The first is the value limit of rupees 10 lakh per parcel, which was a long-standing demand, especially from the gems and jewellery sector."
In order to solve issues facing the e-commerce industry, he also emphasised the implementation of a return-to-origin (RTO) option for courier consignments. "The return-to-origin channel is always necessary for couriers. We have now added measures for return-to-origin because there were certain issues with Indian e-commerce," Garg stated.
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