ICEGATE making functioning of EOUs and SEZs difficult

In her Budget speech last year (July 2024), the Finance Minister said that all the services of Customs shall be digitized and made paperless over the next two years.

- T N C RAJAGOPALAN

She should make sure it happens with least disruptions to the trade.

The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime imposed heavy costs on the trade due to unpreparedness of the GST Network, the digital platform, to handle the processes. Similar unpreparedness hurts the trade whenever ICEGATE, the portal for handling the Customs transactions electronically, implements a new application. For example, the implementation of the Customs (Import of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty or for Specified End Use) Rules, 2022, electronically for export oriented units (EOU) last year was quite messy and is yet to stabilize.