New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS): Customs clearance facilities will be provided at eight airports and seaports round-the-clock from Aug 25 to facilitate international trade, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said Tuesday.

The airports are Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai. The four ports where the service will be available are Chennai, Kolkata, Kandla and JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust), Mumbai.

“The 24×7 operations would begin on a pilot basis with customs operations along with all other complementary services. This would be initially for four months after which efforts would be made to expand similar operations at other locations,” the PMO said in a statement.

The PMO said the service will be available for certain categories of imports and exports.

For imports, the category “no assessment no examination” will be covered.

“This would account for 70 percent of imports. For exports, the facility could be extended to those exports not claiming benefits,” it said.