BHUBANESWAR: India’s Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax Department is all set to launch coastal patrolling to keep an eye on smuggling and other illegal activities on the sea.
The department, which has opened a dedicated Commissionerate for Customs to strengthen collections as well as monitor and crack down on evasions, will have four high-speed vessels at its disposal for coastal patrolling.
“The independent Commissionerate will speed up clearances and customs-related procedures by taking services to the doors of payers. Patrolling along the coast will also be strengthened with the use of vessels to intercept smugglers and transportation of contraband using the sea. Earlier, we used to take the help of Coast Guard for the purpose,” Chief Commissioner, Bhubaneswar zone SK Panda said.
The Commissionerate has been deemed essential in view of the spurt in port activities in the State with existing ones undergoing capacity expansion and several new ones coming up in near future. It has been opened with office in Bhubaneswar but will gain full-fledged functionality soon with appointment of Commissioner, Additional Commissioners and other staff.
The move to establish a dedicated office for Customs comes even as collections from it has dipped substantially this fiscal. Customs collections have come down by 41.31 per cent to only Rs 1353.76 as of December, 2014 against Rs 2306.81 crore during the corresponding month of 2013-14.
The fall though has been attributed to slowdown in iron ore exports on account of closure of mines. The shortfall in exports is to the tune of Rs 700 crore till December, 2014. Further, there has been a reduction in coal duty which has also impacted collection rate, Panda told mediapersons.
Collection of indirect tax including Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax though has seen an increase of 58.08 per cent upto December, touching Rs 5900 crore. The zone has fixed a target of Rs 10,160 crore for 2014-15 fiscal against Rs 8032.81 crore realisation during 2013-14.
The target will be tough to achieve in the face of negative performance of Customs collections and low Service Tax realisation. The growth in Service Tax has been at a rate of 11 per cent with collections to the tune of Rs 1350 crore upto December.
“Unless the growth in Service Tax is raised to 15 per cent, the targets would be difficult to achieve. Steps are being taken to enhance collections during the last quarter of the fiscal,” Panda added.
