COVID-19: Shipping Min seeks govt intervention for recognition of electronic trade documents

To ensure smooth cargo operations at India's ports amid the coronavirus pandemic, the shipping ministry has sought the commerce ministry's intervention for issuing advisory for recognition of electronic trading documents instead of "manual trade documentation" still required by many departments and financial institutions.

Citing bottlenecks caused in handling EXIM cargo on account of the current manual process, it sought the commerce ministry's intervention for issuing advisory to departments, including customs, and the Indian Banks Association for accepting 'electronically generated trade documentation'.

India has 12 major ports -- Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla), Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Kamarajar (earlier Ennore), V O Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) that handled nearly 705 million tonnes (MT) cargo in 2019-20.

Citing challenges faced in handling of EXIM cargo, Shipping Secretary Gopal Krishna in a letter to Commerce ...