United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation – 2021
United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation – 2021
- India has scored 90.32 percent in the United Nations Global Survey 2021 on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation.
- India’s score in 2019 was 78.49 percent. India’s overall score was found to be higher than many OECD countries including France, UK, Canada, Norway, Finland.
- India is the best performing country in comparison to South and South-West Asia region (63.12%) and Asia Pacific region (65.85%).
- India’s overall score is also higher than the EU average score.
- The Finance Ministry said in a statement that India has made a “significant improvement” in scoring points in the United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation.
- It said that the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has been in the forefront of pushing various reforms. It carried forward the faceless, paperless and contactless customs system through significant reforms ‘Instant Customs’.
Significant improvement in scores on all 5 key indicators of India:
- Transparency: Improved transparency to 100% in 2021 (93.33 % in 2019).
- Formalities: India has improved by 95.83% in 2021 (87.5% in 2019) in this area.
- Institutional arrangements and cooperation: India has improved by 88.89% in 2021 (66.67% in 2019).
- Paperless trade: This sector has improved by 96.3% in 2021 (81.48% in 2019).
- Cross-border paperless trade: India has improved this by 66.67% in 2021 (55.56% in 2019).
With reference to the survey:
- The survey is conducted every two years since 2015 by the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for the Asia Pacific (UNESCAP) to help countries benchmark and reduce the time and cost of trading across borders, as well as businesses to help them with their investment decisions.
- The survey assessed 143 economies on 58 trade facilitation measures covered by the WTO’s trade facilitation agreement and 5 key indicators, which are transparency, formalities, institutional arrangements and cooperation, paperless trade and cross-border paperless trade.
- The survey is eagerly awaited globally, as it provides evidence of whether trade facilitation measures have the desired effect and helps to make comparisons between countries. A high score for a country also helps businesses in their investment decisions.
Source: The Hindu
[catlist]
