Ahmedabad: Global travelers arriving at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad with purchases abroad that should be proclaimed and obligations paid upon appearance in India will presently have the choice of paying by credit or charge card.
The Ahmedabad Customs Commissionerate on Thursday installed their very first Point Of Sale (POS) machine at the declaration desk of the international airport, letting passengers pay Customs Duty through card, rather than in cash.
Sources said that looking at the constant problems faced by passengers arriving from abroad, the Customs department had initiated proceedings to install a POS machine more than four years ago in 2017. However, these efforts have finally borne fruit now.
When asked about these problems, sources informed that the number of modalities involved in the acquisition of a POS machine had led to delays over who would bear charges levied by the bank, the
machine rental cost and so on.
On an average, 60-100 international passengers paid Customs Duty every day in the pre-pandemic era.
Notably, 21,46,047 international passengers landed at SVPI Airport in 2019-20 and paid Rs 8,09,00,744 (Rs 8.09 crore) in Customs Duty.
When asked why only one POS machine had been acquired, sources said that the current passenger load at the international terminal was very less and just two or three passengers from each flight were declaring goods of which Customs Duty is levied. A decision on whether to increase this number would be taken in the future.
An officer told Mirror, “We don’t see a potential rise in duty payments for the next six months at least, so one POS machine should be enough for now. However, if required, we will try to acquire another one after that.”
In a few weeks from now, the Customs Department will also begin online payments of Duty through QR code, giving passengers a third payment option.
