Dear Members,
This is in continuation of our mailer regarding International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) which is a multi-modal transport network that includes rail, road, and water transport from Mumbai in India via Bandar Abbas in Iran to Moscow in Russia.
Kindly note that we have received communication from Shri Sunil Kumar, IAS, Joint Secretary, EP-CAP, Department of Commerce (DoC) that the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) linking India to Central Asia and Russia via Iran is likely to get operationalized shortly and it would offer a shorter and cost effective trade route for India's bilateral trade with Russia and other CIS countries.
The Dry Run carried out by the Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations of India (FFFAI) in 2014 and transportation of 5 containers from Bengaluru to Moscow via INSTC route in October, 2016 has demonstrated that compared to the traditional route from Mumbai via St. Petersburg which takes about 41 days, the INSTC routes take only about 20 to 25 days. Efforts are underway to further reduce the transportation time to 19 days.
At this stage, there are two operational INSTC routes:
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Mumbai — Bandar Abbas — Astara — Samur — Moscow
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Mumbai — Bandar Abbas — Amirabad — Astrakhan — Moscow
Union Cabinet has on 6th March, 2017 approved India's accession to the Customs Convention on International Transport of Goods under cover of TIR Carnets (TIR Convention) and for completion of necessary procedures for ratification.
This will facilitate seamless movement of container cargo from India to Russia with further reduction in transit time and transportation costs. Once volume of EXIM cargo increases, there could be further reduction in transportation costs.
Further, we understand that the Hon'ble Prime Minister is likely to formally flag off the first shipment through the INSTC route on 13th April, 2017 and to ensure that sufficient number of containers get transported through this route commencing April 2017, full cooperation from your organization is needed.
Member-Exporters exporting to CIS are urged to explore this option and revert with their confirmation on e-mail ids = Deepak.gupta@chemexcil.gov.in & balani.lic@chemexcil.gov.in .
In case of further queries in this regard, you may contact- Mr. Shankar Shinde, Vice Chairman- Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Association in India, Mobile- 9870000958, shankar.shinde@globalbm.com under copy to us for information.
Your early replies/confirmations, shall enable us forward the information to the Department of Commerce.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
(S.G. BHARADI)
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
CHEMEXCIL
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