India has deferred hiking import duty on steel products in order to be better placed at the ongoing India-US Commercial Dialogue in New Delhi, sources at India’s Ministry of Steel said on Friday, February 15.
The sources said that the Indian government had almost finalized increasing import duty on steel at a flat rate of 15 percent from the current rates in the range of five percent to 12.5 percent in the national budget placed before parliament earlier this month, but such a decision was deferred following consultation with the Ministry of Commerce which was spearheading the talks between the two countries.
Since the Indian government is seeking duty-free shipments of Indian goods to US markets under the Generalized System of Preference (GSP), increases by India in its tariffs on imports would “send a wrong signal” while talks are at a critical stage, the sources added.