| Vanaspati manufacturers in eastern India have shut down their plants as influx of the product from Nepal had flooded the market and killed sales.
|
| |
| Vanaspati from Nepal was exempted from duty up to 1 lakh tonnes per annum and enjoyed unlimited duty exemption on the raw material.
|
| |
| Indian vanaspati was taxed and this had hit eastern India, one of the largest markets for vanaspati in the country.
|
| |
| Manufacturers in the region said the situation had forced them to close plants within the country and shift their plants from India to Nepal to avail of tax benefits under the Indo-Nepal trade treaty.
|
| |
| Kunal Banerjee, chairman of Vanaspati Manufacturers’ Association (east), said 12 units in West Bengal, Orissa Jharkhand and Bihar stopped production and despatches from this week.
|
| |
| “The price difference between Indian and Nepalese vanaspati was Rs 10 per kilo which has made the business unviable. We demand safeguard duty on Nepalese vanaspati,” Banerjee said today.
|
| |
| The eastern region has annual consumption of 3 lakh tonne per annum. West Bengal does even levy any the normal 20 per cent sales tax on Nepalese vanaspati, which was payable in neighbouring states like Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
|
| |
| “This has turned West Bengal into the most important market for imports. Since the Indian product is superior, a Rs 3-4 difference in price was acceptable and this was the case in states like Jharkhand and UP. As importers cannot push their product there, most of it was coming to West Bengal,” Pramod Dugar, chairman, VMAI, said.
|
| |
| Nepalese vanaspati was cheaper than the Indian product as Nepal imported crude palm oil from Malaysia at zero duty while India levied customs duty of Rs 16 per kilo.
|
| |
| The Indo-Nepal treaty also ensured that there was no duty on imported Nepalese vanaspati up to one lakh tonne a year.
|
| |
| Beyond that level, Nepalese vanaspati was still cheaper because of the nil duty on the raw material. |
| |
Content Guide
