Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that India is preparing a fresh wave of customs and banking reforms, including risk-based import screening at ports and a high-level committee review of the banking sector's role in achieving Viksit Bharat — the government's vision of a developed India by 2047. She made the remarks on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers' meeting in Asheville on 1 September.

Customs Reforms: Smarter Screening at Ports

A central plank of the proposed customs overhaul is the deployment of scanners to concentrate scrutiny on high-risk importers, while allowing lower-risk consignments to be cleared automatically. The move is aimed at reducing delays and easing congestion at Indian ports.

'We are trying to bring in scanners and have high-risk importers alone go through them, and the rest of them can be cleared automatically,' Sitharaman said. She added that further customs changes were already in the pipeline, building on reforms already made to direct and indirect taxation. However, no timetable was provided for rolling out the scanner network or the automatic clearance system.

Banking Sector Under High-Level Review

The government has constituted a high-level committee to examine the banking sector and map its future role in meeting India's development targets. 'The banks, of course, we've appointed a high-level committee to look into banking for Viksit Bharat,' Sitharaman said, without indicating when the panel's recommendations would be submitted.

She also pointed to foreign deposits and overseas Indian investments as indicators of confidence in the Indian banking system, saying the data reflected a positive story about trust and macroeconomic stability.

Compliance Burden Cut, States Get Credit

Sitharaman credited both the Centre and state governments for progress on the ease of doing business. She said more than 1,000 laws had been repealed and around 40,000 regulations simplified, reducing the compliance burden on citizens and companies alike.

'I think together with the states, I will also credit the states, many of them who have come forward to make doing business a bit easier,' she said. The government, she added, has been simplifying Acts, rationalising regulations, and removing archaic statutes.

Trade Agreements and Digital Finance Push

The Finance Minister said India was actively pursuing bilateral trade agreements and, increasingly, investor protection agreements. She also highlighted the expansion of UPI and NPCI systems, including QR-code payments, as tools helping small and medium-sized enterprises access global markets.

Economic Backdrop

The reform announcements come as India reported 7.8% GDP growth in the first quarter of the 2026-27 financial year. Manufacturing expanded by 9.2%, while the financial and professional services sector grew by 12.1% in the same period. Sitharaman said reforms across government departments and the financial sector had demonstrated the underlying robustness of the Indian economy.

With the high-level banking committee yet to submit its report and no timeline confirmed for customs scanner deployment, the pace of implementation will be closely watched by industry and trade bodies.