In a surprise change of events, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) took the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) off its list of organisations that are allowed to issue Certificates of Origin (Non-preferential).
This decision has a lot of effects, including making it harder for traders in the area to prove that their goods come from Kashmir for foreign trade.
Certificates of Origin are important papers that traders in India need to show where the things they want to ship came from.
Chambers and governments that are accepted by DGFT are the ones who give out these badges.
The DGFT revealed this change in a public notice on September 20, 2023. It said that 29 chambers and agencies, including two from Jammu and Kashmir, were being taken off of Appendix 2E of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023.
The letter said that the main reason for this decision was that these agencies had repeatedly failed to follow DGFT’s instructions about moving to the e-CoO platform for electronic Certificates of Origin issues.
The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Jammu and Kashmir Walnut Exporters Association are two of the chambers that have been taken off the list for Jammu and Kashmir.
The public notice says that this de-listing takes action right away, so these companies are no longer allowed to give out Certificates of Origin (Non-Preferential).
Exporters who work with these bodies are very worried about this decision because it could mess up their foreign trade operations.
In an interview with Greater Kashmir, KCCI President Javid Ahmad Tenga said that he was shocked by the DGFT’s decision and that he strongly disagreed with it.
Tenga strongly disagreed with what was written in the notice and asked why the KCCI had not been told or told anything about the switch to the DGFT platform.
Tenga said that the KCCI didn’t know about the process until the letter of delisting was sent out.
He said that he thought the choice to take the KCCI off the list had already been made based on what was in the notice, which the chamber plans to fight hard against at all levels. The KCCI has already told the DGFT and other appropriate officials about the problem.
Tenga says that in the meantime, KCCI has taken strong steps to help traders get Certificates of Origin.
“Any shipper who wants to get a Certificate of Origin can get help with this from the KCCI. During this tough time, the chamber is still dedicated to helping its members and the business community as a whole, he said.
Rauf Punjabi, who used to be head of the KCCI, was upset that the organisation had lost its right to issue non-preferential certificates of origin.
“Our shippers will be upset by this defeat. KCCI is very important because it speaks up for exports at national and foreign meetings. If local importers don’t have the proof of origin, it’s a lot harder for them to do business. “We should have been able to stop this from happening,” he said.
Musadiq Shah, who used to be Secretary General of KCCI, said that the de-listing happened because the people in charge of the chamber were not doing their jobs.
“The proof of origin from KCCI is very important for traders who are doing business. It makes it easier to save on taxes, especially in countries in the Middle East, which helps local artists and exports. “This is the first time in the history of the KCCI that the DGFT has taken the chamber off the list of authorised issuers,” he said.
Sheikh Feroz, an exporter and member of the KCCI, said that this happened because the rules weren’t followed.
He was sad about what happened and said it was a shame and shouldn’t have happened.
“Since KCCI is the oldest business chamber, these kinds of events are not okay,” Feroz said.
