India’s Finance Minister calls for regional cooperation to fight customs violations
Monday, 8 December 2014 00:00
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New Delhi: Inaugurating the second Regional Customs Enforcement Meeting in New Delhi, India’s Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, last week called for greater international and regional cooperation to deal with customs violations.
The heads of customs enforcement agencies of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka will attend the two- day DRI Day celebrations followed by a meeting where a new proposal for intelligence sharing is likely to be adopted.
“The geographical expanse of the violations is also expanding. It is no longer the territorial boundaries of one country which are enough to fight this menace. You require global and international cooperation, particular emphasis being on regional cooperation,” said Jaitley.
DRI (Directorate of Revenue Intelligence) is an intelligence and investigating body under the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) and is instrumental for not only detecting cases of outright smuggling of narcotic drugs, fake Indian currency notes (FICN), red sanders, gold and commercial frauds, but also thwarting and preventing such acts. The DRI is set to push for a new framework for intelligence sharing among the five countries in the South Asian region for combating customs violations, fake currency, drugs and smuggling of ozone depleting substances.
Jaitley added that the DRI had to adapt with the changing times and use technology to stop malpractices.
“It is not high tariffs which add to the revenue but volumes of the economy which will add to the revenues. And therefore, with every passing day and the rationalisations which are occurring, the fiscal incentives for malpractices have been going down. And that is why with every passing day, those who are incorrigible and are looking for gaps in laws will keep shifting the core areas of their activity,” said Jaitley.
Since the initiative was launched last year, DRI has shared approximately 20 intelligence incidents to the five neighbouring countries despite the customs mutual agreement between these nations. The agreement restricts the sharing of information on a case-to-case basis once investigation finds trails to these countries.
According to reports, the new modus operandi has been to smuggle gold into India from neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
