A country where we must leap for the little things

Then there are government departments that are probably demanding a socialist return to the 1970s. On my way back to India in 2019 with half a container of clothes, utensils and furniture, I was caught up in the unprecedented form-filling of customs. When leaving Hong Kong, only the moving company required my passport. To this end, I had to physically courier every form of my identification to Chennai to comply with customs regulations. The process lasted six days. As Arvind Singhal of Technopak Advisors told me, for decades every government has promised change in ease of doing business, and yet “the restlessness of doing business continues to grow.” He attributed this to powerful central oversight agencies that intimidate bureaucrats who might want to show the initiative and nature of many other civil servants, who tend to get involved in the administrative system in search of sinners.

Psychologists working with post-traumatic stress disorder warn of a trigger, a sight or sound that brings back the trauma. Last week, I was trying to address the Know Your Customer requirements that Indian customs insist on before you receive a package from abroad. Mine was a pre-publication book sent to London for review by Penguin. I have found hundreds of these elsewhere in the world. But I first got an email from DHL stating that if I didn’t upload the KYC documents including proof of identity and address, it would charge me for warehousing services. So far, so simple, if pointless.

Proof of identity was easy, but my electricity bill was rejected to validate my address. I uploaded my airtel bill, which was also rejected. I called customer service for DHL to be told that my broadband bill is password protected and that DHL can neither access it nor take my password. If I understood correctly, the rep said she couldn’t take it because of the company’s privacy-protection rules. The second proof of address, of all things, was a bank statement, so it seemed illogical. I’m ashamed to report that this trigger quickly turned into a tantrum. I sought to speak to a manager, who resolved the issue.

A friend who used Amazon to cut eggs, a scissor-like tool for slicing a soft-boiled egg, went through the same rigors of submitting multiple documents because the seller said customs stopped delivery. Had given.

Of course, these issues have been magnified manifold which exporters and importers have to deal with everyday. Take the rebate scheme of state and central taxes for exporters launched by the Ministry of Textiles in 2019. Under the old scheme, customs would only credit the exemption to the exporter’s bank account. But, the government introduced a scrip that could be traded, essentially complicating the system. A textile-industry stalwart pointed out that brokers now need to sell these shares at hefty commissions. The new system has effectively disabled many exporters. Anyway, decisions by multinationals to move production closer to domestic markets and pick suppliers within free-trade zones, from which India has been out for the past seven years, have increased the odds against exporters.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India-mandated one-time password verification process is unlike anything I’ve encountered while living in New York, London and Hong Kong, all—not coincidentally—much more so than in Mumbai. Successful Financial Capitals. RBI’s rule changes on recurring payments through credit cards effectively put an end to my online exercise-program membership while I was fueling up to do pilates and yoga. Waiting for a one-time password is another bugbear. (OTP is required to initiate the online process for doing almost anything, be it downloading my airtel bill or meeting the KYC norms of DHL.) Consumers need to set a limit for the transaction Why is not allowed—says 1,000—who doesn’t need OTP? Another credit card payment has come in for an annual newspaper subscription overseas, which requires a telegraphic transfer. Four signatures later on the four-page form, inter alia, that the amount I am paying does not exceed 10% of my monthly income, the paperwork continues.

Meanwhile, none of these tedious oversight procedures proved very helpful in preventing the mismanagement recently uncovered by the former chief executive of the National Stock Exchange a few years ago, who hired a yogi to make senior appointments. Followed the advice. And hand out huge raises.

I have given up trying to figure it out. As John Morris wrote about New Delhi 50 years ago, “Hope is here to fade. Just one application for an import license will change your standards of efficiency… you will find yourself questioning its meaning.” My book arrived on Monday. The only snag was that the DHL delivery person came without a vaccination certificate and was not allowed into the apartment complex, which physically verified who I was. worked around, and was worth a book The 305 eventually made its way to its rightful recipient.

Rahul Jacob is a Mint columnist and a former foreign correspondent for the Financial Times.