By Express News Service KOCHI: After putting in an illustrious service for decades, Pullela Nageswara Rao, Principal Chief Commissioner of Customs, Central Tax and Central Excise, T’Puram zone, will be retiring from service on superannuation on Friday. A native of Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh, he joined Indian Revenue Service (IRS) in 1985. He was awarded Certificate of Merit in 2013 by the World Customs Organisation (WCO). Rao was at the helm of affairs in Kerala when the Goods and Service Tax (GST) was rolled out nationally on July 1, 2017. He was instrumental in conducting a series of outreach programmes throughout the state to raise awareness about GST among various stakeholders, including trade, tax practitioners and officers of the department. It was under his leadership, that Kerala zone earned the third position in duty collection on all over India basis with GST revenue of Rs 7,760 crore and Central Excise duty of Rs 21,364 crore.

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