Amid a spurt in overseas freight traffic growth, the prospects of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) facility aimed at speedy customs clearance and documentation have brightened at the Tiruchi international airport.
A thrust has now been accorded for putting in place the EDI facility at the non-metro Tiruchi airport coinciding with the Central government’s decision to roll out the new nation-wide Goods and Service Tax (GST) from July 1.
Necessary infrastructure required for implementation of EDI has been provided at the airport which has witnessed an upswing in overseas freight traffic since the commissioning of a dedicated export cargo terminal in 2011.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Customs authorities are jointly involved in establishing the facility – a long pending demand of the shippers.
Being the custodian of the international airport, the AAI has provided space, computer hardware, connectivity and other basic infrastructure required for putting in place the facility, airport sources told The Hindu .
The Customs Department would have to hook up to their central server at New Delhi so as to put the e-facility in place.
A senior Customs official here said the process of putting in place EDI facility at Tiruchi airport was on, adding that it was expected to go online soon.
All required infrastructure was ready at the airport and tests would be conducted prior to launching the facility, the official said.
Stakeholders said the commissioning of the facility would immensely benefit shippers exporting freight to various foreign destinations from Tiruchi airport every day.
One of the greatest advantages of conversion to EDI was that it would eventually eliminate manual operations.
Speedy clearance
It would also lead to speedy customs clearance and documentation with respect to freight leading to paperless transactions, said a senior official.
The other major advantage is that export incentives offered by the government to shippers would be credited into their respective account instantly once the cargo was cleared for export, said stakeholders.
Although Tiruchi airport had got the “international” tag years ago and a dedicated export cargo terminal having been established six years ago, it had been lacking the EDI facility.
A thrust has now been accorded to the EDI facility with technical infrastructure in a state of readiness, said an official.
Stakeholders also feel that once Electronic Data Interchange was in place the profile of export commodities would also undergo a change.
Possibility of general cargo being exported from Tiruchi airport would increase, they feel.
Presently, perishables such as vegetables, fruits and flowers account for bulk of freight exported to various overseas destinations from Tiruchi.
Notwithstanding various factors including offloading, overseas freight volume handled at the Tiruchi airport was over 6,600 metric tonnes during the 2016-17 financial year, the sources added.