Kaushal Sansanwal
I am a Certified Customs Practitioner and CargoWise Certified Professional with a decade of experience in international trade compliance operations, projects, and trade advisory services. My strong background in global trade compliance has shaped me into a well-rounded compliance professional, adept at managing and coordinating diverse activities across multiple regions, including Asia Pacific, the Middle East, North America, and the United Kingdom.
My expertise spans import and export compliance, process building, due diligence, risk mitigation, supply chain security, customs classification, licensing, and statutory reporting. I am committed to ensuring regulatory adherence while optimizing trade processes, enhancing operational efficiency, and mitigating compliance risks
Location
New Delhi
About Me
Resume
Short-term Goals: I aim to further enhance my expertise in international trade compliance, focusing on import-export operations, customs classification, and regulatory risk mitigation. Strengthening my leadership skills by mentoring junior professionals and streamlining financial and compliance processes is a key priority. Additionally, I plan to obtain advanced certifications and expand my professional network to stay updated on evolving global trade regulations and industry best practices.
Long-term Goals: My long-term aspiration is to take on a senior leadership role in trade compliance, such as Director of Trade Compliance or Head of Global Trade Operations, where I can drive strategic decision-making and influence global regulatory policies. I aim to develop specialized expertise in mergers & acquisitions, corporate trade strategy, and risk management to optimize supply chain security and regulatory adherence. Additionally, I seek to contribute to the industry through thought leadership, training programs, and advisory roles, eventually leading initiatives that shape the future of global trade compliance.
Leadership and Work Experience
Experience
Aug 2006-Till date
Progress Rail, Caterpillar Co. Manager Trade compliance
(Asia Pacific & Middle East)
Director–Trade compliance Railroad & Heavy Equipment
May 2015 – Apr 2024
EMD Locomotive Technologies Sr. Executive – HR & Administration General Manager – HR Railroad & Heavy Equipment
Jan 2011 – Feb 2012
IBM – Gurugram Administration Executive Manager – Administration IT
Dec 2009 – Dec 2010
Sitaram Bhartia Hospitals Administration Executive Manager – Administration Healthcare
Aug 2006 – Dec 2009
Work Profile in Detail
Key Skills Activities performed during current work experience
Import Operations
- Optimized import operations by reviewing legal, financial, operational, logistical requirements and created SOPs for Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia & the UAE.
- Developed the import objectives, SMART goals that are aligned with organizational goals & objectives. Reduced importation costs by 30% with a focus on regulatory compliance.
- Implemented the import plan and communicated to the internal and external stakeholders. Facilitated a compliance culture and cultivated positive working relationships with regulatory agencies to gain the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Tier – II status.
- Monitored the import performance by collecting, analyzing, and reporting the data related to the KPI’s such as duty deferral programs (advance authorization scheme, customs bonded warehouse, free trade zones, duties relief and drawback), licensing, cycle time to efficiently utilize the assets and ultimately contributing towards positive OPACC.
- Safeguarded $2.7M duty via Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and other duty deferral programs.
- Improved the import performance by 90% via analyzing the clearance time, delays, demurrage paid, detection time data of more than 150 entries monthly.
- Established processes to manage and improve the import readiness activities by analyzing the internal and external factors, hence reduced international trade operational risks by 95%.
Export Operations
- Developed a well-defined export management and compliance Program (ECP). Reduced the non-compliance issues by 80%.
- Managed training of cross-functional (product, engineering, sales, project management) team to exercise due diligence and report the risk and non-compliance.
- Managed export compliance and operations; export controls (EAR); anti-boycott reporting; content reporting and supply chain security programs, such as C-TPAT and AEO.
- Served as primary point of contact for export screening requests, deemed export review, and ECCN Order/Hold and release in organization’s ERP (SAP). Implemented the new indirect tax – GST in 2017.
- Served as the user of the trade management and Denied Party Screening Software Programs (Amber Road – E2Open).
- Reduced the compliant documentation lead time by 90%, which has significantly improved the billing accuracy, accounts receivables and reliability.
- Managed export incentive schemes namely service export incentive scheme (SEIS) & merchandise export incentive scheme (MEIS). Achieved $1.5M of combined incentives through SEIS and MEIS schemes (DGFT).
- Negotiated and resolved the discrepancies and disputes related to letter of credit (UCP 600) transactions.
Global Classification
- Established auto-classification rules for the expedited classification process to reduce sourcing lead time by 50%. Accurate and expedited classification reduced examination incidents by 80%, eventually improving the export clearance time.
- Improved global classification operations lead time by 60% (HTS classification) including submitting requests and responding to requests for technical queries by providing process flows and work instructions for the ERP.
- Managed the export classification (ECCN) and improved the lead time by 80%. Facilitated HR, Sales, Engineering and Project Management group with ECCN and deemed export queries.
- Co-ordinated the successful transition of the central classification process to the internal Trade Centre of Excellence (TCOE).
- Trained in various stakeholders to provide insight of the classification process. It helped the stakeholders to acknowledge and understand the logic behind classification of the traded products and services locally under GST Law.
Risk Mitigation & Dispute Resolution
- Developed a strategic risk identification and mitigation plan under the ECP. Facilitated the organization to prioritize, and act based on severity of the risk or possible litigations.
- Successfully resolved a classification dispute with Customs and validated the accurate classification. Recovered $2M duty as a refund and litigation is open for the applicable interest on the refund amount.
- Influenced commercial team with research of various Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and preference programs for duty determination.
- Additionally, supported with country of origin (COO) evaluation for risk assessment, Incoterms, cargo security, trade remedies (AD/CVD/Retaliatory) and negotiations.
- Monitored and resolved the issues arising out compliance lapses in various territories in APAC and the Middle East region. Reduced non-compliance incidences by 90%.
Reporting
- Managed the statutory reporting required for the transfer pricing mark-ups of the related party transactions across various territories.
- Successfully complied with the valuation Rules placed by the Special Valuation Branch of Customs (SVB) governing the related party transactions in India. Facilitated the favorable order with reduced transfer pricing mark ups (cost plus) for the manufacturing and trading segment.
- Managed the reporting under AEO and C-TPAT program. The organization received the certification of recognition (“two-star export house”) from the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India.
- Completed yearly reporting to the TCOE which included a self-assessment workbook and a comprehensive risk assessment.
- Successfully reviewed and built the framework for CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism] reporting. CBAM reports contained supplier data and the information on the embedded emissions.
Broker Management
- Selection of brokers and the third-party intermediary (TPI) screening has been successfully completed to on-board a new Customs
- Brokers and Freight Forwarders. It helped to sustain the regulatory compliance, reputational and brand integrity.
- Managed services and activities of the Customs Brokers by creating Broker Business Rules. It has significantly improved customs broker’s performance by 90%.
- Identified steps to reduce broker’s service cost by 5%, resulting in an eventual $85K savings in two regions in 2023.
Operational Excellence
- Operational Excellence’ is demonstrated throughout including development of processes and import-export management plans.
- Engineered a series of process enhancements and workflow optimizations resulting in a complete eradication of late entry submissions i.e., 100% on-time entry filing has been achieved.
- Effectively implemented cycle time analysis and achieved significant reduction in demurrage & detention charges (more than 90%). It contributed towards positive OPACC and reduced the total cost per import and export transaction.
- Clean and compliant export documentation increased customer satisfaction, resulting in timelier inward remittance of exports.
- Designed training for the warehouse personnel; reduced 80% incidences of short, excess, and erroneous shipments.
- Facilitated the centralized classification process to bring the quality classification and uniformity across the global entities. High- quality HS codes were maintained to increase the supply chain efficiency by 60%.
Global Assignments
- Facilitated Progress Rail, UK (EMD UK) during the Brexit for all HS codes and ECCN classifications. Developed controls and SOP for the IPR and OPR programs for EMD United Kingdom.
- Established trade compliance framework for Progress Rail’s new entity in the UAE. Developed, implemented, and managed the green light process for trade operations in the UAE. Implemented trade compliance controls and managed SA classification (>20,000 unique part numbers) for Saudi Arabian entities.
- Successfully managed the IOR service providers in Indonesia and the UAE. Improved import efficiency and saved more than $100K during 2023.
- Accomplished temporary imports from Germany via CARNET for an International Railway Equipment Exhibition. Designed and supported the repair & return model for Progress Rail GmbH.
- Managed initiative to import locomotives for repair and return into Australia, hence avoided duty incidence of $1M. Additionally, supervised the trade compliance operations in Australia. Coordinated the due diligence during the acquisition of Downer Freight Rail, Australia.
- Led trade compliance operations in Bangladesh to support the service agreement. Implemented processes to import goods for warranty obligations, which reduced the demurrages cost by 90%.
- Facilitated the due diligence during the acquisition ECM Italy. Additionally, implemented the trade compliance framework for this new acquisition. Supported HTS classification (EU Taric) For more than 10,000 new parts.
Key Achievements
(Progress Rail, Caterpillar Company)
Directed global trade compliance activities at Progress Rail, Caterpillar Co. for over 8 years, optimizing trade operations efficiency and achieving a 90% reduction in regulatory penalties. Transitioned to this dynamic cross-functional role in October 2016. Regional compliance teams and legal groups have also acknowledged the exceptional learning skills and high performance in the current role. In this role, I ably managed activities in compliance areas such as import and export operations, duty deferral programs, customs classification, customs valuation, rules of origin, project management, risk assessment & mitigation processes and trade advisory services for various stakeholders and the management team.
- Nominated as the high performer consecutively for 5 years by the Head of global compliance, and Regional Leaders.
- Promoted within 12 months due to strong performance and organizational impact. Additionally, high proficiency in multi-tasking, operational excellence, stakeholder management and time management skills has resulted in 4 promotions over the course of eight years.
- Nominated for the RAILS ‘emerging leadership training’ in 2018 for excellence in continuously learning and raising the bar and significant contributions towards providing compliant solutions and displaying exceptional teamwork across the business verticals in India and other regions.
Cost Impact: Multimillion-dollar cost reductions achieved by providing excellent trade advisory services and developing a process-driven culture within the organization.
- Successfully resolved a classification dispute with India customs involving refund of $2M.
- Coordinated and resolved disputes and inconsistencies pertaining to letter of credit transactions in Bangladesh. Safeguarded $1M worth of inventory from the customs auction.
- Achieved $1.5M of incentives via export incentive schemes (service (SEIS) & merchandise (MEIS).
- $1.6M duty related to import of locomotives saved via AUSFTA.
- $1.1M duty saved in a project executed from Free Trade Warehouse Zone (FTWZ- Arshiya, India)
Certifications and Trainings
- Certifications and Trainings: CargoWise Certified Professional – Customs, Forwarding, Liner & Agency, Transport and Warehouse.
- Level 4 certificate in Advanced Customs Compliance – Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade (Erstwhile IOE&IT), United Kingdom.
- Certified Customs Practitioner – use the link to verify the badge – https://www.credly.com/go/Oqkcdl6qxXRq4ubNkGREpA
- Certificate Programme in International Export & Import Business – DGFT & IIFT, New Delhi, India.
- Incoterms® 2020 Certificate – CargoWise Tech Academy, Australia. Australian Trusted Trader Program Certificate – CargoWise Tech Academy, Australia.
- Logistics and Supply Chain Management Certificate – CargoWise Tech Academy, Australia
- Basics of Air Cargo Forwarding Certificate – CargoWise Tech Academy, Australia
- Basics of Ocean Freight Forwarding Certificate – CargoWise Tech Academy, Australia
- Basics of Warehouse Operations Certificate – CargoWise Tech Academy, Australia
- Global Supply Chain Security Certificate – CargoWise Tech Academy, Australia
