The government's approach to border management is divided into four essential processes: Border guarding, border regulation, and border development. The abysmal level of regional integration in South Asia – 5%, according to the World Bank – is due to a lack of quality infrastructure. This has resulted in high logistics costs as well as an increase in the overall cost of trading in the region. Different types of border management infrastructure, such as Land Customs Stations (LCSs), Immigration Check Posts (ICPs), and consolidated facilities such as Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) and other border-trade centres, facilitate India's land-based trade with its neighbours. The ICPs are land border entry and exit points that house various facilities such as customs, immigration, border security, and quarantine, among others, within a single facilitation zone. (Sinha 2000) In 2019-20, the six ICPs at Agartala, Petrapole, Raxaul, Jogbani, Moreh, and Attari handled 40% of India's total trade with Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Pakistan.
Figure 40 Integrated Border control: Cross country movement
According to a report by the National Transport Development Policy Committee (NTDPC), such a low level of integration stems from a lack of quality border management infrastructure, which leads to high logistics costs. The logistics cost in South Asia is very high, at 13–14 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), compared to the global average of 8–9 percent. The Covid-19 pandemic has also highlighted the importance of strengthening border infrastructure and management to ensure the continuous supply of essential goods and the movement of people, in addition to the trade gaps that exist in normal times. “Linking Land Borders: India's Integrated Check Posts,” a recent paper by Riya Sinha of the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, examines the ICPs in terms of their role in facilitating trade and passenger movement in the region. It also identifies various challenges at the ICPs and proposes policy solutions to address them.
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