MAIT hails new customs clearance system

New Delhi: MAIT has welcomed the announcement of the Union Government on the introduction of users-friendly tax administration measures including the self-assessment based customs clearance. According to the release, the Government has also announced e-filing of Excise returns and the adoption of 8 digit classification for purposes of Excise Duty clearance, thus harmonizing the customs and Excise classification systems.

Congratulating the Union Government on the measures, MAIT executive director Vinnie Mehta said, "The introduction of self-assessment scheme for customs clearance from June 30, 2004 at 23 customs formations and e-filing of customs and excise documents is welcome. This will help in reducing the turn-around time in India to internationally acceptable levels, thereby providing a conducive environment to the hardware manufacturing industry. Increased transaction delays and associated costs have been some of deterring factors of doing hardware business in India. We are confident that this system will soon evolve into the much needed periodic-processing system."

"In January 2004 the Government had announced several measures including reduction in excise duty on Computers and some components and also across-the-board removal of Special Additional Duty (SAD). This has helped in bringing down the price of computers and will enhance PC consumption. We are hopeful that in the next Budget the Government will adopt similar measures for Peripherals and other IT products. Additionally, increasing the rate of depreciation to 100 percent from existing 60 percent will give a further boost to IT consumption in the country." he added.

(CyberMedia News Service)