Airlines told to share international passengers' info with customs department

(Representative image)

Air carriers are now required to share with the customs department information about international flyers to prevent violation of law and improved “risk assessment” of passengers entering or leaving the country.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on August 8 came out with the new regulations to collect passenger information to prevent violations of the customs act and other laws.

For every international aircraft leaving or entering India, every airline must submit the passenger name record (PNR) data from their reservation system to the customs department's database.

A violation of the directive will invite a fine between Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 for every act of non-compliance, CBIC said.​

As part of the order, the government has asked airlines to mandatorily share information, including name, contact details and payment details of international passengers with the customs department for improved surveillance and risk assessment of passengers entering or leaving the country, a notification by the CBIC said.

Under the Passenger Name Record Information Regulations, 2022, airlines are responsible for submitting data in a specified format to the National Customs Targeting Centre - Passenger. This centre has been set up by the CBIC to receive and process passenger records.

The data collected under the Under the Passenger Name Record Information Regulations, 2022, could also help the government track individuals involved in smuggling of contraband into India and from the country as well.

The data could be used to track earlier flights of individuals identified in smuggling cases and to identify patterns in their travels.

India has recently increased reliance on data analytics to tighten tax administration. Such measures have shown up in more robust indirect tax collections.

India is the 60th country in the world that will collect PNR details of international passengers.

The government has asked aircraft operators to register with a designated officer for information sharing.

Aircraft operators will have to collect and transfer specified details of passengers to customs systems. Information has to be transferred 24 hours before the departure time or at the departure time.

"Every aircraft operator shall transfer the passenger name record information... of passengers they have already collected such information in the normal course of business operations, to the designated customs systems," the regulations said.

Every aircraft operator will have to seek registration with customs for its implementation.

India has recently increased reliance on data analytics to tighten tax administration. Such measures have shown up in more robust indirect tax collections.

While the regulation did not state the reason for seeking such information, analysts said this was to prevent bank loan defaulters from fleeing the country to avoid prosecution.

According to information shared by the government in Parliament, 38 economic offenders, including Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Mehul Choksi, fled the country in the last five years.

Former MP Mallya left the country on March 2, 2016, the day a clutch of public sector banks moved the debt recovery tribunal to recover Rs 9,000 crore in unpaid dues from his now-defunct Kingfisher Airline.

Choksi, one of the prime accused in the Rs 13,000-crore PNB loan fraud case, too, fled to Antigua and Barbuda just as ED and CBI zeroed in on him.