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Raja Simhan T E

Refund queries happen all the time in an export transaction. The Chennai Customs House has taken the e-mail route not only to reduce enormous paperwork but to keep importers posted on developments.

E-mail today is one of the cheapest and fastest modes of communication available to mankind. e-mail can be used to send and receive messages. The Chennai Customs House (CCH) has found a novel way to use the e-mail facility, to send a couple of hundreds of custom duty drawback refund queries every day at one go to various exporters, a task unimaginable a few months ago.

The CCH, the department officials claimed, was the first in the country to use e-mail in such a way. The use of e-mail has not only reduced manual sending of the queries in a drastic way, but also significantly increased the speed and efficiency in the drawback section, the official added.

Drawback refund or remission is given by the Customs to exporters in whole or part, of customs duty, fee or internal revenue tax, which was imposed on imported material/merchandise at time of importation. Drawback claim is entry and related documents required by regulation, which together constitute the request for drawback payment. The e-mail usage, according to CCH officials, has almost replaced the age-old practice of sending the voluminous typed or written queries by post or courier.

Let us look at the process involved in exporting a cargo before taking up how the department uses the e-mail in drawback refund claims. The Custom House Agents (CHA), on behalf of the exporters, files shipping bills with the Custom House for getting the `let export' (of cargo) clearance. The goods in containers are then put on board a ship, and within a week the steamer agents (who manage the ships locally) file the export general manifest (EGM) containing details of the goods and the containers with the Customs department.

Once a shipping bill is filed, the drawback refund claim automatically (through computerisation) goes to the department's drawback appraisal. The appraiser decides on the refund (excluding the value of the goods and the cost of insurance and freight of the cargo exported) based on the details provided in the EGM. The appraiser has the power to either reject or accept the refund claims.

Once the appraiser gives his approval, the claim is sent to an Additional Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner for their approvals respectively. Once approved, the refund amount is automatically credited into the exporters' bank account

Thanks to computerisation in the CCH, the refund is sent to the account either on the same day or next day from the date of EGM filing — an impossible task a few months ago, say the officials.

However, in some of the cases the appraiser puts on hold the drawback refund claim for want of sufficient documents/certificates. The official then raises a drawback query with the exporter seeking clarifications or to file certain documents. Hitherto, this claim process used to take days, in some cases even months, with a load of files moving in a snail's pace. However, today, thanks to the computerisation, there is no manual interference and the data travels through the EDI (electronic data interchange) within the department.

It is in the final process that E-mail comes handy for the department. Out of the 3,500 drawback claims filed per month, the department raises about 2,000 queries, and sends 75-100 queries through e-mail every day, say officials. On seeing the e-mail, the exporter would then go to the department's computer service centre, produce the necessary documents for claiming the refunds.

Other than the e-mail, the exporters can see their query in the touch screen facility in the service centre or log on to the CCH Web site (www.chennaicustoms.org) to know the status of the drawback and what the query was, say officials.

While e-mail has come handy for the department, the usage by the trade has not used the facility properly. Department officials complain that a number of exporters including some of the top companies do not see the e-mails at all. The department incidentally has developed an inhouse software to track whether the E-mail was ready by the exporter or not.

As a result drawback refund claims, numbering over 3,000, are pending with the department, say the officials. The department faces another problem. Despite reminding the exporters a number of times, about 20 per cent of them (the exporters) are yet to give their e-mail ids to the department. If the exporter does not respond within 30 days, the department issues a show cause notice seeking an explanation and the duty is then zeroed down (no refund), the officials said.

When asked, the CHAs, who file the drawback refund claims with the department on behalf of the exporters, on the other hand alleged that the Ee-mails do not reach the exporters concerned at all. While the CHAs are involved in filing the drawback documents, the Customs sends the query only to the exporters concerned and not to the CHAs.

Says a CHA, "This discrepancy should be taken out. Some of the exporters, who may not have received the e-mail message, put pressure on us for refund without know that a query has been sent to them. We come to know about the query only through the department's website. The department should mark a copy of the message to us for us to follow up".

According to trade sources, though it was a novel concept to send the drawback queries by e-mails, they are not interactive. An exporter, who may be in Chennai or elsewhere in the country, cannot reply to the e-mail message and should personally visit the department's service centre to clear the queries. "This is a tedious process," they say.

There are discrepancies in the drawback queries itself which needed to be corrected, says the sources. For instance, export of handloom goods is exempted from Central Excise and is entitled for duty drawback refund. However, often the Customs department raises a query asking the exporter to produce the CENVAT (Central Value Added Taxes) certificate. Majority of drawback claims are pending mainly because of excise-related issues, said sources.

There are also other similar requirements too where the exporters need to produce a photostat copy of the document/certificate every time an export document is produced. Else, a query is raised, and the drawback refund is delayed, says sources.

"While producing the CENVAT and other documents/certificates was necessary for small exporters, the department should exempt large and frequent exporters from producing such documents every time an export consignment is sent. If an exporter has produced a CENVAT certificate, valid for six months, the department's database should automatically identify the exporter and exempt him from producing the certificate pass on the refund," said sources. "The CENVAT certificate is valid for six months, but the exporter need to file it every time," they said.

Sources said that the department blames the trade for not seeing the e-mails. However, the fact is any such delay in turn delays the drawback refund disbursement for the department. "e-mail has come handy for this," said sources.

raja@thehindu.co.in

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