Indian steel wire industry insists on higher customs duties

Indian steel wire industry insists on higher customs duties

The Steel Wire Manufacturers Association of India (SWMAI), representing Indian steel wire producers, submitted a petition to the Finance Minister to request higher customs duty on steel wires. SWMAI seeks a basic customs duty of 20% on all types of iron or non alloy wires and alloy steel. Moreover, SWMAI wants imports of same and like products to be subject to sales tax at the applicable rate in each state within India. SWMAI also asks that the Finance Ministry put steel rods and steel wires into different categories in the 2005-06 Union Budget's import tariff schedules. SWMAI argued that the reduction in the duties did not help domestic producers. SWMAI said that since taxes and infrastructure costs amount to 18% of the ex-works price of the products, the domestic industry had an advantage of only 2% when the import duty was 20%; however, the domestic producers came face to face with a 13% disadvantage once the government decided to lower the duty rate to 5%.