India to ease trade with five customs agreements by Mar

India is set to sign trade facilitation deals with five more key partners over the next three months, bestowing coveted ports and customs privileges including fewer inspections, faster tax refunds and deferred duty payments on half of its external trade.

- Gireesh Chandra Prasad

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) will shortly sign such agreements with Australia and Russia, followed by deals with Japan, South Africa and the eight-nation East African Community by March, a person aware of the matter said.

India currently has such customs agreements with the US, the UAE, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The new agreements will mutually recognize a highly valued trade facilitation scheme in India called the authorized economic operator (AEO) programme and its equivalent in these countries, the person cited above said on condition of anonymity.

Under these bilateral deals, the accreditation offered by each country to its highly trusted merchants and logistics players for customs privileges will be honoured by the partner countries.

This will not only enable Indian exporters and importers to get privileges in the partner country, but also enable their clients in that country to get similar benefits even if they themselves are not part of their home country’s accreditation.