Indian Ports Association launches 'PCS 1x' to increase ease of doing business

The Indian Ports Association (IPA) has launched the port community system 'PCS1x', a cloud-based technology that offers services like notification, work-flow and track and trace, the government said Tuesday.

It is estimated that this feature alone will reduce up to 2 days in the life of a transaction.

This system will enable trade to have an improved communication with the customs as they have also embarked on an Application Programming Interface (API) based architecture, thereby enabling real time interaction, the Ministry of Shipping said in a statement.

"IPA, under the guidance of Ministry of Shipping launched the Port Community System 'PCS1x'...'PCS 1x' is a cloud based new generation technology, with user-friendly interface. This system seamlessly integrates 8 new stakeholders besides the 19 existing stakeholders from the maritime trade on a single platform," the statement said.

The platform offers value added services such as notification engine, work-flow, mobile application, track and trace, better user interface, better security features, improved inclusion by offering dashboard for those with no IT capability, it said.

A unique feature of 'PCS1x' is that it can latch on to third party software which provides services to the maritime industry thereby enabling the stakeholders to access wide network of services, it said.

The system enables single sign on facility to provide one stop interface to all the functionalities across all stakeholders, it said, and added that another major feature is the deployment of a world class state of the art payment aggregator solution which removes dependency on bank specific payment ecosystem.

The statement said the system offers a database that acts as a single data point to all transactions. It captures and stores data on its first occurrence thereby reducing manual intervention, the need to enter transaction data at various points and thereby reducing errors in the process.

"The application will have a cascading effect in reducing dwell time and overall cost of transaction. The platform has the potential to revolutionize maritime trade in India and bring it at par with global best practices and pave the way to improve the Ease of Doing Business world ranking and Logistics Performance Index (LPI) ranks," the statement said.

It added that the system is also an initiative that supports green initiatives by reducing dependency on paper. The web-based platform has been developed indigenously and is a part of the 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' initiative.

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