The Centre has initiated consultations with industry to limit the impact of the war in West Asia on Indian importers and exporters, should tensions persist for a long period.
There is a “need to maintain predictability in cargo movement, minimise avoidable delays, and ensure seamless documentation and payment processes for exporters and importers”, the government said in a statement issued on Monday.
Sources familiar with the discussion say the key measure under consideration is ensuring that cargo clearance is completed within 24 hours for compliant importers, which would require coordination among Customs, DGFT, and GSTN to avoid a repetitive documentation process. Currently, cargoes take an average of 3-5 days to get cleared.
For low-risk consignments, the government is mulling institutionalising uniform, risk-based assessments across major ports, with strict adherence to the risk management system (RMS)-facilitated processing.
RMS-facilitated processing is an automated, data-driven system used by Indian Customs to speed up the clearance of goods by separating safe shipments from suspicious ones. Instead of a Customs officer manually checking every single box and document, the RMS uses a computer algorithm to analyse the risk of every shipment the moment it's filed.
The RMS system already exists in the major ports of India; however, even today, in some cases, manual verification is done, which adds to the delay in cargo clearance.
RoDTEP may be reviewed
Additionally, the government is open to reviewing the restrictions that it recently imposed on the RoDTEP scheme, which capped the benefits (reimbursement of taxes to exporters) at 50 percent, the sources said, adding that the call would ultimately be taken based on how conflict impacts exporters.
Essentially, the RoDTEP scheme offers exporters a refund, which is calculated based on the FOB (free on board) value of the export--the price of the goods when they reach the ship, before insurance and freight are added. For instance, if the FOB value of the product, say cotton, is Rs 100,000, a refund of Rs 3,000 - 3,900 was being given under RoDTEP. Now this will be reduced to about Rs 1,500.
"The recently announced 50% value cap on RoDTEP benefits for certain sectors may be reviewed or rationalised to ease working capital constraints, especially for high-value engineering and electronics exports," said Sivakumar Ramjee, Executive Director- Indirect Tax, Nangia Global.
"At this moment, timely cargo evacuation is required to prevent congestion and extended dwell time. This will help maintain continuity of import-export logistics, protect MSMEs, and ensure that essential imports are not adversely affected," said Vimal Pruthi, Tax Partner, EY India.
"Fastrack advance ruling, fix ICEGATE"
The government’s statement on Monday said that the Centre’s priority is to ensure continuity of EXIM (export-import) logistics and mitigate any disruptions to India’s trade flows. During the meeting with stakeholders, it was emphasised that the approach will remain facilitative and coordinated, with a focus on “maintaining supply chain resilience”.
Apart from these measures, experts suggest that advance rulings on the classification and valuation of goods should be fast-tracked to achieve clarity in a time-bound manner.
Advance ruling is given by Customs authorities for specific products, which fixes the customs duty rate on them for a determined period. The Union Budget for 2026 announced that these rulings will be valid for 5 years going forward, as against 3 years now.
“Consistent view on issues of classification should be adopted, and different interpretations should be avoided across the ports, even in cases which are accepted in the past,” said Ashish Mitra, Counsel, Economic Laws Practice.
“On the technical aspect, the government should ensure the uninterrupted functioning of the ICEGATE portal and real-time resolution for technical glitches. It should also utilise AI capabilities to reduce manual assessments for low-risk consignments,” added Mitra.
ICEGATE (Indian Customs Electronic Gateway) is the portal where every single piece of paperwork—the bill of entry, shipping bills, and payments—is filed. However, the portal faces glitches during peak times, which brings the entire country's trade to a standstill, as reported by industry.
At a broader level, the government’s strategy appears calibrated and facilitative rather than reactive, say experts.
“Procedural flexibility in export authorisations where shipments face genuine disruption, coordinated engagement with banks and insurers, and the possibility of enhanced credit lines to help exporters manage working capital pressures are practical measures that can provide immediate relief,” said Ikesh Nagpal, Lead-Indirect Tax, AKM Global.
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