Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation

• 11 Jul 2023

Recently, India demonstrated its outstanding performance in the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific's (UNESCAP) Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation.

Key Findings

• Outstanding Performance: India achieved an impressive score of 93.55% in the 2023 survey, showcasing its commitment to digital and sustainable trade facilitation. This score represents a significant improvement from 90.32% in 2021.
• Leading Global Trade Facilitation Efforts: India is at the forefront of global trade facilitation efforts, as recognized by the survey.
• The country's exceptional progress across various sub-indicators highlights its relentless efforts to streamline trade processes, enhance transparency, and promote cooperation among stakeholders.
• Perfect Scores in Key Areas: India attained perfect scores of 100% in four crucial areas: Transparency, Formalities, Institutional Arrangement and Cooperation, and Paperless Trade.
• This achievement demonstrates India's effectiveness in implementing measures that enhance trade facilitation.
• Women in Trade Facilitation: India showcased substantial improvement in the "Women in Trade Facilitation" component, increasing the score from 66.7% in 2021 to 77.8% in 2023.
• This highlights India's commitment to gender inclusivity and empowering women in the trade sector.
• Best Performing Country in South Asia: India emerged as the best-performing country in the South Asia region, surpassing many developed countries like Canada, France, the UK, and Germany in terms of overall score.
• Continuous Improvement: India's overall score has been steadily improving year by year, indicating a strong commitment to further enhancing the ease of doing business and implementing next-generation trade facilitation measures.
• Recognized Digital Initiatives: The survey recognized Indian Customs' digital initiatives, including Turant Customs, Single Window Interface for Facilitation of Trade (SWIFT), Pre-Arrival data processing, and e-Sanchit.
• These initiatives aim to create a paperless, contactless, and faceless trade environment.
• Fact-Based Evaluation: The UNESCAP survey is a fact-based evaluation that covers the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and approximately 60 trade facilitation measures categorized into eleven sub-groups.