Centre harmonises customs exemption framework to boost ease of doing biz, effective from Nov 1
New Delhi: The government has issued a new notification towards bringing a major reform in the customs exemption framework towards ease of doing business. The new notification by Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) rationalises and harmonises existing customs duty exemptions across various sectors. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has consolidated 31 separate Customs Duty notifications into a single comprehensive document. The sectors covered include renewable energy, metals, fertilisers, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, electronic components etc. Effective from November 1, 2025, the notification consolidates a wide range of legacy notifications into a single unified structure, while providing conditional exemptions on customs duties, Integrated GST, and compensation cess where applicable.
The ‘Notification No. 44/2025–Customs dated 24th October 2025,’ amends several existing Customs notifications in the public interest. The new consolidated notification effectively merges all relevant exemptions and procedural details into a single framework, thus eliminating redundancy while preserving the substance of existing benefits.
The amendments affect key notifications governing customs exemptions and procedural frameworks, including Notification Nos. 11/2018-Customs, 8/2020-Customs, 11/2021-Customs, and 52/2017-Customs.
The current changes bolster the government’s effort to harmonise customs provisions with ongoing budgetary and policy adjustments under the Integrated and Goods and Services Tax framework.
Earlier this month, the CBIC introduced system-based auto-approval for IFSC code registration to enhance the ease of doing business.
The system will automatically approve requests for registration of the same incentive bank account and IFSC code for a particular Importer Exporter Code (IEC) at multiple Customs locations, provided the same combination has already been approved at any one location.
The move comes as part of the CBIC’s initiatives to leverage technology to simplify procedures, reduce transaction costs, and enhance the ease of doing business for India’s trade community, the statement added.
