India rises in digital and sustainable trade facilitation rankings, scores 100% on transparency

India's score has jumped to 90.32% in 2021 from 78.49% in 2019 in the United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific's (UNESCAP) latest global survey on digital and sustainable trade facilitation.

Among 143 economies surveyed, India has scored more than many OECD countries including France, UK, Canada, Norway, Finland, the finance ministry said Friday.

"The Survey notes that India is the best performing country when compared to South and South West Asia region (63.12%) and Asia Pacific region (65.85%)," it said.


Survey has highlighted India's significant improvement in the scores on all five key indicators, the most evident of which is transparency index in which 100% score has been achieved, up from 93.33% in 2019.

A score of 66% has been achieved in the women in trade component.

The survey evidences whether or not the trade facilitation measures being taken have the desired impact and helps draw comparison amongst countries. A higher score for a country also helps businesses in their investment decisions

In category of formalities, 95.83% score has been achieved in 2021, up from 87.5% in 2019, 88.89% in institutional arrangement and cooperation versus 66.67% in 2019.

In paperless trade, the score has improved to 96.3% from 81.48% in 2019 and mild improvement in cross-border paperless trade to 66.67% from 55.56% in the same period.

The finance ministry noted that the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has been at forefront of path breaking reforms under the umbrella of 'Turant' Customs to usher in a faceless, paperless and contactless customs by way of a series of reforms.

"This has had a direct impact in terms of the improvement in the UNESCAP rankingson digital and sustainable trade facilitation," it said.

Further, during the Covid19 pandemic, customs formations have made all efforts to expedite Covid related imports such as oxygen related equipments, life-saving medicines, vaccines etc.

A dedicated single window Covid-19 24*7 helpdesk for EXIM trade was created on the CBIC website to facilitate quick resolution of issue(s) faced by importers.