Commerce ministry restarts COVID-19 helpdesk to resolve import, export issues

The commerce ministry on Thursday restarted its COVID-19 helpdesk to help resolve issues of exporters and importers related to international trade such as customs clearance delays and banking matters amid rising coronavirus cases. It was first started in April 2021.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), an arm of the ministry, took this initiative to monitor the status of exports and imports, and difficulties being faced by trade stakeholders in view of the surge in COVID-19 cases. “DGFT has operationalised a ‘COVID-19 Helpdesk’ to support and seek suitable resolutions to issues arising in respect of international trade,” the Directorate said in a trade notice to all exporters, members of trade, export promotion councils and commodity boards.

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The helpdesk will look into issues relating to import and export licensing, customs clearance delays and complexities arising thereon, import/export documentation, and banking matters. “Helpdesk would also collect and collate trade related issues concerning other ministries/departments/ agencies of central and state governments and will coordinate to seek their support and provide possible resolution,” it said.

Stakeholders can submit information on the DGFT website about their issues on which support is required. The status of resolutions and feedback may be tracked using the Status tracker under the DGFT Helpdesk Services. E-mail and SMS would also be sent as and when the status of these tickets are updated.

The country reported 90,928 fresh coronavirus infections, the highest in over 200 days, that pushed its caseload to 3,51,09,286, according to the data of the Union health ministry. As many as 91,702 new infections were reported on June 10 last year.