India joined the United Nations TIR Convention, the international customs transit system on Monday.
This decision will strengthen India’s position as a transit hub and regional trading. India is the 71st country to join the TIR system, which is the international custom transit system which has the widest coverage across different geographies.
Additionally, TIR procedure allows duty-less transfer and movement of goods across different international geographies.
This is another strategic decision made by India to outpace China across different relams of development. China boasts of One-Belt-One-Road (OBOR).
Umberto de Pretto, the secretary general of IRU welcomed India to the prestigious TIR procedure who said, “TIR helps in implementing the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement by addressing policy incompatibility among the BBIN group. For example, Bangladesh does not recognise insurance policies made in India, Nepal or Bhutan. With TIR, there would be no need for bilateral arrangements as guarantors covered under the global guarantee chain.”
Since a long time, India has faced the issue of problem of connectivity across international boundaries. Besides, India has also witnessed massive disconnect between custom and transport systems. The Indian systems are in the process of being integrated with the global norms.
This decision will also infuse life into important projects of India namely Chabahar project and International North-South Transport Corridor, amongst others.
As India ramps up its connectivity ambitions this is a necessary step. For instance, the BBIN motor vehicles agreement needs this convention to make it operational.
Post this development, Indian services for the African and Asian markets will better, especially after the DMIC (Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor) pans out online.
Generally, airports serving less than 12 lakh passengers annually are considered as non-major.
The charges for these aerodromes are fixed by DGCA whereas for major airports the rates are determined by Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA).
