The newly launched portal, Thunaivan’ by Tiruchi Preventive Customs Department and the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) is designed to help streamline trade for garment exporters in Tiruppur.

Specifically tailored to digitally empower exporters in Tiruppur and enhance the ease of doing business, the portal offers a user-friendly interface to facilitate real-time interaction between Customs and exporters. It features fast-tracked grievance resolution and issue handling mechanisms. This initiative aims to boost transparency and accessibility, fostering a stronger public-private partnership for trade facilitation.

At the launch of this portal, SK Vimalanathan, Chief Commissioner-Customs, Tiruchi, stated, , during their previous visit to Tiruppur, custom officials had announced plans to create an interface addressing exporters’ grievances, and also appoint appropriate officers to review these issues, forward them to the relevant officials for resolution, and monitor their progress.

The data collected and analyzed through the Thunaivan portal will be valuable for policy development, noted Singh

A Sakthivel, Vice-chairman, AEPC, highlighted, Tiruppur's annual garment exports have exceeded Rs 45,000 crore. With an FTA with the UK already in place and a bilateral agreement with the US currently in the works, significant opportunities exist for Tiruppur's garment exporters, he emphasized. However, they need to build capacity and train their workforce, he noted.

The launch event for this portal was also attended by KM Ravichandran, Principal Commissioner- Customs (Preventive), Tiruchi, and K.M. Subramaniam, President, Tiruppur Exporters’ Association.