Export cargo worth crores of rupee held up at Delhi airport

NEW DELHI: Ahead of busy Christmas season, export consignments destined for Europe and the US and worth crores of rupee are held up at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here due to a technical glitch on part of the Customs Department, the Delhi Exporters Association (DEA) said today.

It said due to a glitch in the computer software "the work is being done manually at a very slow speed and very few export shipments could be processed". The problem started in the last week of November when the Customs Department upgraded its computer software, DEA said further.

Exports and import consignments are cleared through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system at the Delhi Customs House.

The Association said airport authorities have asked exporters not to bring in more consignments as there was huge backlog of cargo which "they cannot handle".

DEA President S P Aggarwal said exporters would suffer huge losses if shipments are not cleared immediately as "this is the last opportunity to sent Christmas orders".

The consignments mainly consist of handicraft, Christmas gift items like fashion jewellery, brass and wooden items.

The Customs Department, however, has assured exporters that it would acknowledge the delay was due to a hitch in software deployed for clearing the consignments so that buyers do not reject them causing losses to exporters.

The Federation of Indian Exports Organization (FIEO), the apex body of exporters, later said the problem has been solved.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade has also set up help desks at its zonal offices, including Delhi, to help exporters resolve day-to-day technical and procedural problems in filing of applications.