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E-facility for Customs payment normalising fast : CBIC
NEWDELHI:About20daysafterits launch, the Electronic Cash Ledger (ECL) for payment of custom duty is now normalising although several exporters and importers continued to complain of problems, said the Central BoardofIndirectTaxesandCustoms.
“We are happy to announce that ECLismovingtowardsnormalcyandis receiving more acceptance among users,”theCBICsaid,addingthatusers made customs duty payments of Rs.1,200crorerecently.
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Further, 18,064 e-wallets have been activated since the launch of ECL on April 1 and on April 20, 27.78% of challan payments were made through ECL rather than netbanking or NEFT/RTGS,theCBICsaid.
“We have observed a 99.9% success ratio for payments made through ECL vis-a-vis other modes (netbanking or NEFT/RTGS) on Thursday,” it further said, adding that only 203 wallets continue to be blocked today due to the ongoing reconciliation exercise but will beunblockedsoon.
The CBIC is expected to launch the second phase of the facility from May 1 under which payments relating to courier shipments would be required to be done through ECL. It would also develop other payment functionalities such as auto-debit of self-assessed amount from the ECL when the liability becomesdue.
Launched on April 1, the ECL is an automated payment system under which users can maintain non interest bearing deposit for payment of taxes. However, many users also took to social media and complained that the money in their ECL wallet is stuck and the ledger is blocked or the payment is not beingreflected.
“By and large the ECL system has stabilised but there continue to be occasional hiccups. These cases should be looked into before the government takes a call on levying of interest,” said Ajai Sahai, DG and CEO, Federation ofIndianExportOrganisations.
As an interim measure to help traders, the CBIC had previously waived interest on the payment of customs duty through the ECL and subsequently said that this dispensation would continue for three days until the system stabilises. Industryisnowwaitingtoseewhenthis dispensation would be continued and is hopeful that the CBIC would wait for somemoretimebeforewithdrawingit.
