Cochin Customs confident of exceeding revenue target

Kochi, Sep 15 (UNI) Expressing optimism about exceeding the revenue collection target of Rs 1,350 crore for this year, Commissioner of Customs, Cochin, D D Ingty today said the department had already collected more than Rs 600 crore in customs duties in the past five-and-a-half months.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Ingty said the department had detected customs duty evasion of Rs 5.12 crore in 52 cases at the Cochin Port and the Nedumbassery International Airport here so far, compared to duty evasion of Rs 8.2 crore in 887 cases last year.

Describing the revenue collection as extremely buoyant, Mr Ingty said the non-oil imports had seen a 60 per cent growth in duty collection. While the Cochin Customs had generated a revenue of Rs 1,200 crore last year, the target for this year was Rs 1,350 crore, of which Rs 600 crore had already been reached.

''We hope to exceed the revenue generation target for this year,'' Mr Ingty added.

Among the major items of import at the Cochin port is oil for the Kochi Refinery, which accounts for almost 45 per cent of the revenue.

Mr Ingty said among the major items on which attempts were made to evade customs duty this year were 14 imported cars valued at about Rs 1.1 crore, which had been under-declared. The cars, which attract a duty of 160 per cent, were in various stages of adjudication.

Mr Ingty said the Customs Act 1962 had been amended in July this year to make the whole process more transparent and to ensure a speedy grievance redress mechanism.

Under the amendments effected to Sections 17, 28 and 110, provisions had been made for issue of a speaking order within 15 days from the date of assessment where any assessment is done contrary to the claim of the importer or exporter. Also, an optional scheme for voluntary payment of duty by assessees, in full or part, in cases involving fraud and mis-statement had been introduced. The payment, included interest and 25 per cent of the duty amount as penalty within 30 days of receipt of the show cause notice.

The amendments had also paved the way for provisional release of goods, documents and things seized to the owner prior to adjudication of the case.

In reply to a question, Mr Ingty said the loss of revenue due to the opening of special economic zones (SEZs) was ''notional.'' ''There may be revenue loss, but the revenue generated because of the SEZs is much more,'' he added.

Mr Ingty said Cochin Customs gave export incentives worth Rs 650 crore, including Rs 172 crore to SEZs, last year. The incentives till August this year amounted to Rs 340 crore, he added.

UNI ARC ROY 1720