New Delhi: Gold, narcotics, and cigarettes are highly prone to outright smuggling, said Vivek Johri, Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Government of India, while addressing the ‘In Conversation Series’ organized by FICCI’s Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy (CASCADE) here recently.

“At the CBIC, we are going aggressively against illicit trade in these goods. In 2021-22, we seized 92,000 kg of narcotics worth Rs 17,400 crore. During this period, we also seized 14 crore cigarette sticks.” He further added that artificial intelligence and data analytics are playing a pivotal role in targeting instances of smuggling which have significantly helped the department to deal with the growing menace of illicit trade.

Johri also shared that unscrupulous players indulging in illicit activities misuse free trade agreements, export promotion schemes, and misuse end user-based exemptions. “CBIC is trying to overcome these challenges in a systematic way, and have ramped up the use of technology in their operations with 22 cargo scanners at 16 locations to ensure 100 per cent scanning of all containers coming into the country through gateway ports,” said Johri.

Anil Rajput, Chairman, FICCI CASCADE, said: “Smuggling and illicit trade is increasingly hurting the Indian economy and has crept into multiple sections of the society. Immediate steps are required, both in the form of policy intervention and awareness generation, to address this growing menace.”

“It is indeed heartening to see how CBIC is using AI, Block chain, Machine Learning to strengthen the enforcement agencies in detecting such malpractices. Complimenting the GST council and CBIC for a well-balanced tax policy and maintaining equal thrust on revenue augmentation and strict handling of tax evaders.”

P C Jha, former Chairman, CBIC and Advisor, FICCI CASCADE, while moderating the session stated, “The magnitude of illicit market is large and with passage of time it is proliferating at an accelerated pace. One in three FMCG household and personal goods available in the market is not genuine. Similarly, one out of four FMCG packaged food items and one out of five tobacco products including cigarettes sold is an illicit product. FICCI CASCADE study indicates that in FY 2013-14 due to illicit trade in respect of just seven items, total loss to government revenue was about Rs 39000 crore and sales loss to the genuine industry was about Rs 1,05,000 crore.”