On November 4, 2019, the union minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman launched two new IT (Information Technology) initiatives in New Delhi. They were “ICEDASH” and “ATITHI”, for improved monitoring and pace of customs clearance of goods that are imported, and to facilitate the arriving international passengers by e-filing of customs baggage and currency declarations.
About ICEDASH & ATITHI:
i.ICEDASH: The ICEDASH which is an Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) monitoring dashboard, enables the public to check the customs clearance time of import cargo in various ports/airports. The dashboard is developed by joint collaboration of CBIC (Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs) with NIC (National Informatics Centre). The ICEDASH can be accessed through CBIC website.
ii.ATITHI: ATITHI is an easy to use mobile app by CBIC, where international passengers can file customs declaration in advance. The app is available on both iOS (operating system) and Android devices.
- Advantages: ICEDASH and ATITHI are expected to reduce interface and increase transparency in the customs functioning areas. ATITHI would help in encouraging tourism too, where it would enhance in faster clearance of customs at airports.
- Members present: Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State(MoS) of Finance and Corporate Affairs; Ajay Bhushan Pandey-Revenue secretary; Pranab Kumar Das, Chairman of CBIC (Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs), senior officials, members of trade and industry and others were present during the event.
About CBIC:
Founded- 1944.
Headquarters- New Delhi.
About NIC:
Founded- 1976.
Headquarters- New Delhi.
Director General(DG)- Neeta Verma.
Parent organisation- Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY).
