Airlines to Submit Full Passenger Data to Indian Customs by April 1

India: Starting April 1, all airlines operating in India will be mandated to share comprehensive passenger, crew, and pilot data with the National Customs Targeting Centre-Passenger (NCTC-Pax) under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC). This measure, aimed at strengthening risk analysis and combating offences such as smuggling, follows provisions outlined in the Finance Act of 2017.

Airlines are required to register with NCTC-Pax by January 10. The rollout will begin on a pilot basis with selected airlines from February 10, scaling up fully by April 1. Airlines using Global Distribution Systems (GDS) have until June 1 to comply.

Per the revised guidelines, passenger name record (PNR) information must be transferred no later than 24 hours before flight departure. Failure to comply will incur penalties ranging from ₹25,000 to ₹50,000 per instance.

While passengers won’t have to share any additional information directly, data already collected by airlines under the Chicago Convention will be used. The information will be stored for five years and shared securely with authorized government bodies or foreign entities, with strict adherence to privacy laws. Sensitive data revealing a passenger’s ethnicity, political or religious beliefs, or sexual orientation will not be processed.

These measures aim to enhance customs’ non-intrusive detection capabilities to safeguard national security while upholding passengers' privacy.