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To digitise Customs processes, the Union finance ministry is planning to integrate the Indian Customs Electronic Gateway (ICEGATE), Risk Management System (RMS), and Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange System (ICES) into a single unified national Customs platform, according to government sources.
Photograph: Claro Cortes/Reuters
ICEGATE enables e-filing and customs payments by traders; RMS automates risk-based scrutiny; and ICES handles backend assessment and clearance workflows at Customs locations.
At present, the three Customs systems work on different kinds of software and do not fully talk to one another, which causes delays and duplicates paperwork.
The move is expected to make it easier to do business in India and improve the country’s global trade ranking.
The government is likely to make an allocation for the project in the Budget for 2026-27.
The government official said an expression of interest (EoI) for the mega project was expected to be issued shortly.
After that, a detailed request for proposal (RFP) will be issued to shortlisted interested parties to evaluate their technical and financial proposals, and then the final contract will be awarded.
Major global and Indian technology companies are expected to be among the key contenders.
The new integrated system is proposed to come into effect on April 1, 2027, making it one of the largest sovereign information-technology (IT) transformation projects in indirect tax administration, said the government official.
To promote innovation and participation by young technology firms, there may be a condition requiring the final bidder to involve startups in backend operations, a move that would formally integrate startups into a core sovereign digital infrastructure project.
Once operational, the unified platform is expected to remove data silos between Customs systems, enable faster and more automated clearances, strengthen risk-based targeting, and reduce litigation arising from system-level mismatches, significantly altering in how imports and exports are processed across ports.
“Under the proposed overhaul, assessment, refunds and goods testing are planned to be made completely faceless, while dispute resolution will be fully digitised, compared with the largely manual process currently in place,” another official said.
The reforms aim to cut the average clearance time to 24 hours from about two days now.
The government is working towards a system where importers will no longer be required to physically visit Customs offices, the second official said.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week at an event said Customs was her “next big cleaning-up assignment”.
Suresh Nair, partner, EY, said the minister’s Customs overhaul would be the most significant trade-facilitation reform in a decade.
“By fully integrating RMS with the upgraded ICES and ICEGATE 2.0 platforms, we will replace manual, discretion heavy processes with true end-to-end automation,” he added.
Vivek Baj, partner, Economic Laws Practice, said while the Bill of Entry and Shipping Bills were filed online, several key processes such as filing of refund application, provisional assessment and the finalisation of the Bill of Entries remained largely manual.
This results in a significant officer-level interface, forcing importers and exporters to physically visit ports and Customs offices, making the system time-consuming and cumbersome.
“Digitising these processes will ensure ease of doing business, more transparency and accountability, faster resolution including sanctioning of refunds, streamlined import/export documentation, with fewer forms and declarations and more single window style processing. Seen from this perspective, it will definitely be a welcome move by the government if they digitalise these processes,” Baj added.
