Indian government announced that in the wake of the recent fall in the
international prices of commodities and with a view to safeguard the interests
of domestic producers, government have carried out certain changes in the
customs duty rates.
The details of these changes are as
under
Withdrawal of the full exemption from customs duty granted earlier
on specified iron and steel items such as Pig iron, spiegeleisen, semi finished
products, flat products and long products. Consequently, they will be subject to
a basic customs duty of 5% ad valorem.
These changes come into effect on
the 18th of November, 2008.
Notification No.122/2008-Customs dated
18.11.2008 has been issued in this regard.
Earlier in April, the India
government had withdrawn import duty on steel as part of inflation management
exercise.
Ever since the steel prices started nose diving and demand
slumped on the back of global recession, the domestic industry has been
apprehending a possible dumping of the commodity by leading steel making nations
like China, Ukraine and Thailand. To keep cheaper imports at bay, the industry
had sought a 15% import duty on steel, besides levying of 14% countervailing
duty on imports of the reabrs and sections.
Source : Steelguru