Customs clearance regulations making importers nervous

The government has raised import duties on several items and restricted import of many items subjecting them to import licensing

Importers are getting anxious that Customs clearances of their consignments are being delayed deliberately. Many feel that the government is making conscious attempts to discourage imports, especially those originating in China and East Asia.

The stated policy of the government is to make it easy to do business. However, it is getting more difficult to clear the import consignments, since the Prime Minister’s call for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ i.e. ‘self-reliant India’. Many have understood the policy as substitution of imports through domestic production, although top government functionaries have come out with many different, often contradictory, interpretations on what the policy of self-reliance