India imposes anti-dumping duty on Chinese needles

India has imposed an anti-dumping duty of Rs 1,55,362 per lakh unit on import of sewing machine needles to protect domestic players from cheap Chinese shipments.

"The anti-dumping duty imposed shall be levied for a period of five years (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier)," the Department of Revenue said.

The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), a nodal agency under the Commerce Ministry, had recommended the imposition of the duty after an investigation.

The DGAD concluded in its probe that the domestic industry had suffered a material injury on account of dumped imports of the product from China.

The country had already imposed duty on imports of fabric, yarn, nylon tyre cord and several chemicals.

Anti-dumping duty is recommended by the Commerce Ministry, while the Finance Ministry imposes the same.

Unlike other safeguard duties, which are levied in a uniform way, anti-dumping duties vary from product to product and from country to country.

Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to check if the domestic industry has been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a counter-measure, they impose duties under the multilateral World Trade Organisation regime.