Import/Export Industry Notifications

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), under the Commerce Ministry, has made a few changes in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. There is no need to file a hard copy of the application for an applicant seeking a probe for anti-dumping or safeguard or countervailing duties. As a temporary measure, filing a hard copy of the application or supporting document can be mailed to ad11-dgtr@gov.in.

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India will be exporting around one lakh tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan and Lebanon under a government to government (G2G) arrangement via diplomatic route. Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar has been pushing for export to help boost farmers’ income. Proper precautions are being ensured during harvesting in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. Farmers are observing physical distancing of 1-2 metres in fields.

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The Central Government is keen to restart economic activity in the urban and industrial green zones or areas with a low incidence of COVID-19 cases. The Uttar Pradesh (UP) government has helped reopen 5,281 industrial units during the lockdown period. A blanket approval to all forms of farming activity with proper safety measures in place is under consideration too.

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To ensure that the engines of the economy start turning, agriculture, factories and the transport of the goods sector may not be restricted by the lockdown rules in the next phase starting 15th April 2020. A “lock-in” might be implemented for factories with workers staying onsite and maintaining social distancing. The Centre is contemplating measures to bring migrant workers from camps to their factories, possibly by running special buses or trains.

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To provide liquidity to the trade the officers of GST, CX & Customs Bhubaneswar Zone have processed 51 GST Refund Claims involving Rs. 145 Crores, during the lockdown period including using Remote Access Facility started by CBIC.

CGST and Customs Bhopal Zone during 1st to 12th April 2020 in lockdown period sanctioned 264 GST refunds claims - RS 27.29 cr 814 IGST refunds - Rs 35 crores and 1043 customs drawback claims-Rs 5.85 cr. as trade facilitation.

In an endeavour to provide immediate liquidity to trade and industry during this hour of crisis, the CGST Kolkata Zone has processed 260 nos. of GST Refund Claims of Rs.32.02 Crores from 23rd March to 11th April,2020, using Remote-Access Facility provided by CBIC during lockdown.

Mumbai Customs Zone I, in its special drive to help the trade in these testing times, has cleared IGST refund of Rs 108.99 cr (325 S/Bs) & Drawback of Rs 5.016 cr (483 S/Bs), bringing the pendency to zero.

1298 IGST refund claims with an amount of₹107.12 crores were processed and 3929 drawback claims involving an amount of ₹15.49 crores have been sanctioned by Hyderabad customs during the period 24.03.2020 to 11.04.2020 to facilitate the exporters.

Rs 229.75 crores has been scrolled out for 5000 Shipping Bills of IGST and 10483 Shipping Bills of DBK in last one week by JNCH, Customs Zone II Mumbai.
Officers of Customs(P)Zone, Patna has scrolled out IGST Refunds amounting to Rs.20.54 Crore involving 2944 Shipping Bills & cleared drawback amounting to Rs.20.47 Crore involving 2080 Shipping Bills to provide liquidity to the exporters.

In an endeavour to provide immediate liquidity to the trade and industry CGST Jaipur Zone has processed 510 GST refund claims involving amount of Rs 68 Cr during 30 Mar-12 Apr 20 by working from home using remote access facility provided by CBIC during lockdown

Working 24 hrs to help trade & industry and under special drive Trichy Customs Zone has cleared a total of 11378 Drawback & IGST claims with a total amount of Rs 78.93 crores within 4 working days.

As part of Special Refund & Drawback Disposal Drive, Delhi Customs Zone is working 24*7 during lockdown period to ensure timely refunds to exporters, especially MSMEs. IGST Refunds amounting to Rs.227.45 crores & Drawback amounting to Rs.49.06 crores disbursed.

CGST Pune Zone sanctioned 472 GST refunds of Rs 294 cr working fm home using Remote Access Facility provided by CBIC during lockdown period, fm 31st March to 12 April, providing liquidity to the trade & MSMEs in particular, in difficult times of COVID19.

In the wake of #COVID19 crisis & being fully sensitive to the need of Trade, Delhi Central Tax Zone is striving hard to process GST Refunds through Virtual Office. 503 refund claims involving Rs. 113 crores processed during Lockdown period, from March 24 to April 11, 2020.

In Chennai GST Zone, from 1st to 10th Apr 2020, 1198 refund claims involving Rs 372 cr were disposed as compared to 257 claims involving Rs 94 cr during 21st Mar to 31st Mar 2020, it’s 4 times the amount compared to previous 10 days.

With a view to provide liquidity to the trade in this hour of crisis, the officers of CGST Mumbai Zone have processed 1246 GST Refund claims involving Rupees 347 crores from 30.03.2020 to 10.04.2020 by using Remote- Access Facilty started by CBIC.

Taxpayer Refunds is a high priority item in the work from home environment- total disposal of refund claims for the period 24.03.2020 to 11.04.2020 at Bengaluru Central Tax Zone is 686 claims involving Rs.593.46 Cr.

Drawback scroll for amount of Rs 40.22 crores involving 510 Shipping Bills generated on 11.04.2020 at Ahmedabad Customs.

In view of liquidity issues;CGST Lucknow Zone has embarked upon disposing pending CGST refund claims.During the period of lockdown, we have disposed of total 302 refund claims&disbursed Rs. 38.20 Crores to the taxpayers.

CGST Vadodara zone from 1st to 10th April 2020 during lockdown and working from home sanctioned 1246 GST Refunds of Rs 147 crores to provide liquidity to MSME and other units.

On 11.04.2020, IGST refunds scroll for amount of Rs 119.31 Cr. involving 3625 Shipping Bills and Drawback scroll for amount of Rs 7.81 Cr involving 918 Shipping Bills generated today at Custom House, Mundra. All exporters may check.

ICD TKD Exports Commissionerate scrolled out IGST refunds amounting to Rs. 57.12 crores involving 1414 Shipping Bills and cleared drawback amounting to Rs 7.77 crores involving 2856 shipping bills .

In order to provide liquidity to exporters, Noida Customs scrolled out IGST Refund of Rs 344 crores due to 6906 Shipping Bills and Rs 26.3 crores as Drawback in 13059 Shipping Bills.

DPIIT's letter suggests that reopening of manufacturing units in a long list of sectors. Sectors such as textiles, automobiles and electronic manufacturing must be allowed to operate with reasonable safeguards implemented. This is essential to improve economic activity and provide liquidity in the hands of the people.

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While strict measures are being followed to battle the spread of COVID-19, European supply chains are being challenged. It has been difficult to meet the demands for personal care products, food and entertainment. Air cargo volume and frequency is going up. Ocean shipping has not been impeded by the outbreak of the pandemic. Dutch customs are offering relief to entrepreneurs and protective gear imports. HIDC is open to answer any questions and related queries.

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The COVID-19 crisis has impacted the exports of apparels, textiles, gems, and jewellery. The order cancellations and decrease in new orders may lead to at least 50 % loss according to the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO). 11 countries import cotton in from India constituting to 41 % of India's cotton yarn exports. It includes China, Iran, Korea, and Vietnam.

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Major global container shipping lines have been skipping India’s top container gateways, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and Mundra port. Since, it has been challenging to clear import containers from the two ports, and since the export volume has dropped too low, blank sailings are taking place.

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