NEW DELHI: Import of about 350 sensitive items monitored by the government including refined oil, automobiles and parts, food grain, rubber and
silk went up by 33% during the April-December period of the current fiscal. Increase in India’s total import of goods during the period was higher at 44.8%.
While items like refined oil, auto parts, alcoholic beverages and rubber showed a sharp increase in imports during the period, import of food grain crashed because of spiralling global prices and various import and export restrictions put in place by the government.
According to figures released by the commerce department, imports of sensitive items stood at Rs 33,864 crore in the first nine months of this fiscal as against Rs 25,454 crore in the same period last year. It constituted 3.4% of the gross imports valued at Rs 10,03,947 crore during the period. The government keeps a tab on identified sensitive commodities to ensure that there is no adverse impact on the small and medium domestic producers.
Import of refined oil went up by 132 % to Rs 10,943.55 crore, alcoholic beverages increased by 52.6% to Rs 294.52 crore, rubber grew by 93.3% to Rs 475.35 crore and auto parts increased by 79.4% to Rs 8,671 crore. Import of food grains showed a sharp 98% decline during the period to Rs 20.22 crore.
Imports of sensitive items have gone up from a number of countries including the US, China, Indonesia, Korea RP, Japan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Germany, Thailand, Cote D’ Ivoire, Brazil, Czech Republic, Italy, Australia, Benin and Sweden. Canada and Argentina are among the countries from where import of sensitive commodities went down.
Source : The Economic Times