What is NIBD?
Today, we are into short-cuts! NIBD is not a National Institute, but the National Import Data Base.
The Indian Customs Valuation Database Project, known as National Import Data Base (NIDB) Project was initiated to develop a real time electronic data base in respect of goods imported at all customs stations in India. The idea is to provide instant access to the combined data, duly analyzed and flagged by the Directorate of Valuation (DOV), to all assessing officers for their use as an effective tool to check under-valuation and valuation fraud so as to safeguard customs revenue.
The import data is captured on a daily basis in a specially devised format by the individual customs stations immediately after assessment. In cases where electronic data processing is in vogue (EDI), the inputs required are already available in the computer system. The required data is retrieved by special software and transmitted to a central server in the Valuation Directorate through a dedicated Intranet called ICENET. In case of non-EDI assessment, the required input data is entered manually at the customs stations and transmitted to the Valuation Directorate on a daily basis. For remote customs stations not on ICENET, the required data is sent to the Valuation Directorate via email. This data is analyzed on a weekly basis in DOV with the help of intelligent software. This software calculates unit values, the weekly weighted averages for sensitive commodities and percentage deviations of each import from weighted average. An interface with international price information is also being provided progressively along with analyzed data.
The analyzed data is transmitted to all customs stations every week by electronic means, i.e. via ICENET to major customs stations and via email to other stations. Weekly transmissions are consolidated at Custom stations and stored in MS access format with easy search and retrieval facilities. This data is made available to assessing officers at custom stations on LAN. When the declared value is found to be below 10% the weighted average, the consignment is flagged as an outlier. The customs stations examine the outliers pertaining to them, to determine whether the declared values in such cases are genuine or not in consultation with the importer and causing inquiries as appropriate. Any customs officer in the country, duly authorized with username and password, can access the National Imports Data Base (NIDB) from anywhere, anytime.
The database also helps Customs officers and investigative agencies, like Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), to conduct risk analysis and item profiling to target goods or consignments, which are sensitive to valuation fraud.
Be careful, big brother is watching!