NEW DELHI: The government on Monday decided not to impose a special import duty on hot-rolled steel, paper, acrylic fibre and auto components,saying there was not enough ground for immediate action. The standing board on safeguards led by commerce secretary GK Pillai decided not to impose safeguard duty—levied to protect domestic industry from a surge in imports—as suggested by the directorate general of safeguards (DGS).
The directorate had recommended a 25% safeguard duty on flat steel products such as hot-rolled steel, based on complaints filed by Essar Steel and Ispat Industries. It had made similar recommendations for paper, acrylic fibre and auto components.
DGS will look at submissions made by all parties, including industries that use these products, over the next two months before making a recommendation to the board, the commerce secretary said.
“The board decided that there was not enough evidence of threat to domestic industry and, therefore, no need to impose duties at once. There was no reason why the usual procedure of consultations with all concerned should not be carried out by DGS before recommending duties on the products concerned,” Mr Pillai said. Secretaries of the revenue, heavy industry, textile and steel departments were present at the board on safeguards meeting.
With the board on safeguards turning down the proposal, DGS will now follow the recommended procedure for carrying out safeguard investigations. It will have to look at details like import of products over the recent past and the resultant disruption of the domestic market. It will also hold consultations with user industries, which would be affected if safeguard duties are imposed.
India has recently started the process of imposing safeguard duties to protect domestic industry against import surges as the procedure for imposing anti-dumping duties is more time-taking. While so far the duty has been imposed on a single chemical, the directorate is carrying out investigations into a number of products.
Source : The Economic Times