A Finance Ministry-sponsored survey has revealed that 69 per cent respondents at the Mumbai airport Customs rated their experience as "better or somewhat better" than other international airports .
In a first of its kind survey, CBEC had engaged L N Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai (WE School), to conduct a survey of 'passenger satisfaction' levels of Customs clearance process at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, one of the largest in terms of international passenger traffic in India.
Asked to rate their experience, "69 per cent rated their experience with the Mumbai airport Customs as better or somewhat better than other international airports, 15 per cent rated on par and about 16 per cent felt it was worse", the ministry said.
The sample size of the survey was 731, duly representing demographics, nationalities and profession, among others.
The study found that passengers are sensitive to the time they spend on the entire Customs clearance process. In the case of Green Channel passengers, threshold time is 'up to 15 minutes' while in the case of Red Channel passengers , threshold time appeared to be in between 15-29 minutes.
Pre-arrival self-calculation/assessment and payment of Customs duty levied, dedicated Customs clearance channel for those international passengers who have connecting domestic flights to board, ease of Customs clearance process at the airport are some of the important recommendations.
Among findings, the respondents appreciated the improvement in Customs clearance process over the years. Thirty five per cent mentioned that the clearance process has drastically improved while 37 per cent felt that there is a marginal improvement.
According to the passengers, three areas that require major improvement are access and availability of information, speed of process and greater transparency of duty assessment process.
"Customs assessment for TV and jewellery appeared to be less widely known and are two commodities causing maximum discord," the survey found out.
|
