Import duties remain in place but India considers a cut back

Import duties remain in place but India considers a cut back

Finance Ministry of India held a mid term review meeting on steel prices yesterday but explained that no changes have been made with regard to the import duties currently in force. Ministry officials expressed that this was one of the regular periodic meetings to monitor commodity prices including steel. The Ministry is unwilling to make any changes in the import duties at this stage with the concern that such a revision might create uncertainty in tax structure and governmental revenue calculations. Instead, the import duty issues will be discussed at the time of Union Budget formulations, as it is usually practiced. Nevertheless the Ministry officials point out to the fact that this situation does not prevent any reduction of customs duty for steel in the next budget. This issue has been on the agenda for quite some time, regarded as a balancing effect on the domestic producers to stabilize their local sales price levels. Currently 25% customs duty, 16% countervailing duty and 4% special additional duty is applied on scrap imports into the country. On the other hand Indian Steel Ministry last week expressed its opinion against a governmental intervention in the steel prices as it believes that same are market driven, in line with the upward movement in the international market. Please click for related article India seeks relief for local consumers, without directly intervening in high prices However through a recent statement the Steel Minister Mr. BK Tripathy said that the government may consider lowering the import duties in order to protect the interest of steel users from the constantly surging prices in the domestic market.