The revenue of Chennai Customs increased by 60 per cent for the year 2010-2011 thanks to an increased rate of countervailing duty, said Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Commissioner of Customs, on Monday.
Talking to The Hindu , he said that the department was successful in crossing the revised target of Rs.17,885 crore by clocking in Rs.18,200 crore as against last year's collection of Rs.11,596 crore. “The countervailing duty that is levied on domestic product was increased from 8 per cent to 10 per cent and it came into force from March 2010. The other reasons for the increase in revenue are revival of economy, increase in automobile sector and imports volume among other things,” he said.
New application
Referring to a delay in clearance of goods during the last two months from the Chennai Port due to the implementation of new application – Indian Customs EDI system (ICES 1.5) at Custom House, Chennai, he said “from a standalone system, we have moved to centralised system that has been connected to over 100 locations from the present 40. Like any migration, disruptions were there in the beginning due to link failure. However, it was sorted out. On a day-to-day basis, there are no problems. Today, the goods are cleared in three to eight hours.”
Pointing out that the problem was not with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) but with the wrong database provided by the Customs House Agents and Steamer Agents, he said the Commissionerate was always trying to find ways and means to solve the problems at the earliest.
He asked the aggrieved parties to follow the mechanism prescribed to lodge the complaint, and seek the help of centralised helpdesk in New Delhi.
“If you don't get help within a reasonable time, an alternative solution will be provided by the Chennai Commissionerate,” he said.
