Customs Risk Management System Wins Prime Minister's Award

On the occasion of Civil Services Day 2009, at a function held at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 21.04.2009, Shri Hamid Ansari, Hon'ble Vice President of India presented the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Public Administration, for the year 2007-08 to the Director General of Systems and Data Management, Central Board of Excise & Customs. The award was given for the initiative "Implementation of Risk Management System in Customs".

Starting with Air Cargo Complex, Sahar Mumbai in December, 2005, the Risk Management System (RMS) has been implemented in 23 major Customs ports/airports covering about 85% of India's international trade. It has revolutionized the customs import clearance process by cutting down the clearance times drastically. Instead of routine assessment and examination of all cargo, only selected consignments are taken up for scrutiny and examination.  It is a tool to balance facilitation and enforcement which has been widely appreciated by the trade. Due to the introduction of RMS, the importers have greatly benefited by way of reduction in dwell time and transaction costs, which has improved their competitiveness. There has also been considerable reduction in the need for physical interaction between importers and Customs officers. Clearances without assessment and examination and the facility of direct delivery of cargo have been given to eligible Accredited Clients of Customs. Importers today are able to plan their logistics and supply chain as per global standards and follows "Just in time" principles.  

Due to the RMS, Indian Customs have also collected extra revenue of Rs 2363.22crores in 2008-2009.

The RMS Project has been designed and developed in house by a small team of Customs officers, at the Risk Management Division, Directorate General of Systems, Mumbai with the help of M/s Birlasoft, a leading IT company. Thanks to remote filing using the internet web portal of Indian Customs  www.icegate.gov.in , facility of e-payment and RMS, today the Indian importers  are able to clear their goods within a few hours.  Due to these efforts, the Indian Customs have been able to provide higher standards of service to the trading community.

Director General of Systems Receiving award from Hon"ble Vice President of India

The medallion of honor

The Scroll of honor

Some members of the core RMS Team at the award function