Amazon, DHL were invited to give presentation on the best global practices of exports In order to expedite the release of goods meant for exports, the department of customs is set to roll out some of the initiatives with the introduction of non-intrusive technologies such as x-ray scanning at Foreign Post offices (FPOs).
The government believes that these measures would also curb the smuggling of narcotics, as witnessed by the recent seizure of 300,000 tablets of psychotropic substances, stated Press Information Bureau in a statement.
In order to strengthen law enforcement, customs will scan mail bags at the airports itself for identifying suspect consignments and contraband items.The Customs department recently proposed newer simplified methods to send exports via foreign post offices.
To announce the same, the Indian customs and Department of Posts recently hosted a joint press conference in Delhi to deliberate over streamlining of imports and exports by post.The government even invited Amazon and DHL to give presentation on the best global practices identifying bottlenecks faced by exporters in IndiaThe initiative was lauded by Pritam Banerjee, DHL representative, who said, "From a private sector perspective, it was great to see customs and posts coming together to find solutions for Indian e-commerce."At the same time, the customs department chief commissioner Sunil Sawhney anticipated the unlocking of massive export potential by sprucing up of foreign post offices' infrastructure and their PAN- India presence.With this, the customs is probably leading a reform in Indian exports by allowing the e-commerce exports via all foreign post offices.
This is being rolled out sans the MEIS (merchandise exports from India scheme) benefits for now.
It has come to light lately that one of the major bottlenecks in the Postal System is the absence of Professional Logistics Companies which can facilitate SMEs going global through online presence and leaving postal logistics to third parties.