Members from the manufacturing industries, trade, and freight handling establishments here fear that shifting the charge of customs officers of Coimbatore Commissionerate to the Trichy Commissionerate will hit business.
“This is a meaningless shift. For any clearance of document from the Customs Commissioner the trade representatives will now have to go to Tiruchi, which is a five hour drive. This move will generate more confusion,” says Raja Shanmugam, president of Tirupur Exporters’ Association.
Coimbatore has over 15,000 registered industries, whereas it is only 4,000 in Tiruchi. Imports and exports by Coimbatore-based industries and the ones from units in neighbouring districts are many times more.
So, the number of issues to be sorted out year-on-year will be high here. If the customs headquarters is shifted out of Coimbatore, it will not be easy for local industries to travel to Tiruchi everytime. It will lead to delays, adds M. Ramesh, vice-chairman of CII - Coimbatore zone.
According to Coimbatore Custom House and Steamer Agents’ Association general secretary P. Subramaniam, shifting the charge of Coimbatore Customs to Tiruchi during the GST transition period will only aggravate hardships for exporters. Explaining the possible problems that the exporters and importers will face, he said that timely waiver of late filing penalty is not possible if shifted to Tiruchi. Similarly, delays in sensitive amendments might lead to mission of vessel or flight connections. There is a possibility of the transaction costs going up for the exporters and importers. It will becoming difficult to represent day-to-day administrative matters with higher authorities, he said.
Industry associations here have represented to the Central Government in this regard. They sought a Customs Commissionerate in Coimbatore.
The move to consolidate the Customs to Tiruchi does not augur well for businesses in Coimbatore. The region is a major industrial belt and deserves to have Customs to be headquartered here to facilitate better dialogue for efficient and faster problem resolution. CII - Coimbatore zone seeks a strong rethink on this matter
S. Narayanan,
chairman, CII - Coimbatore Zone
Coimbatore region is a manufacturing hub and is becoming a cargo hub. There will be more freight activity here in the coming days. There are different codes for different products and for every clarification we need to go to Tiruchi. The Customs Commissionerate should be head quartered in Coimbatore for the benefit of the industry
Ravi Sam,
former chairman of CII- Tamil Nadu
