Trade documentation simplified

Exporters and importers will now need just three mandatory documents each to carry out their business, cutting down significantly on transaction time and cost.

The reduction in mandatory documentation requirement, notified by the government on Thursday, marks a huge improvement over the earlier dispensation.

As many as seven mandatory documents were required for exports and 10 documents for imports in India, as per the World Bank’s 2015 Report.

The reduction in documentation is also expected to improve India’s ranking in the ‘trading across borders’ component of the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ report, where the country was ranked 126 of 189 countries last year, an official release of the Commerce Ministry said.

Exporters and importers will now be required to provide the bill of lading/airway bill and the commercial invoice cum packing list. The third compulsory document for exporters is the shipping bill or bill of export while for importers the third document is the bill of entry.

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