India’s exports to Bangladesh via Petrapole land port are facing delays in clearances from regulatory authorities resulting in high transaction costs and making the shipments uncompetitive.

Similarly, exports to Nepal by road also face delays due to non-cooperation of Customs authorities, the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) said in a statement.

Shipments are mainly sent to Bangladesh through Petrapole land port and “these consignments are often facing delays in clearance due to over burden, holidays etc, leading to heavy transportation detention charges being levied on them,” EEPC India Chairman Aman Chadha said in a statement.

As per an estimate, an exporter has to spend additional Rs 6,500 to Rs 8,000 to send the consignment, it said, adding “the solution lies in round-the-clock land port facility and this needs to be upgraded’’.

He also demanded doing away with the practice of taking permission from the Customs Commissioner for shipments to Bangladesh by barge.

On exports to Nepal, he said that the Customs authorities insist on different kind of papers which are not necessary during the time of processing of bill of exports (BoE). BoE is allowed to be processed only when materials physically cross the border.

Further, the council said that procedures for exports in general through different ports have become cumbersome.

There are about 24 steps required by an exporter from the time of receiving an export order to remitting of foreign agency commission, including claiming of export incentives, it said.

“The process takes six months at the minimum to complete this cycle. It is estimated over 100 signatures are required and about 16-18 hours required to complete this process,” it said.

The total transaction cost for a medium-sized export consignment of around $20,000 would be between 8.89-11.89 per cent, it said, adding that the government should think of a ‘single export document’.

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