Govt imposes countervailing duty on Chinese chemical

Going all-out to protect the domestic industries from the Chinese onslaught, India has initiated a probe to consider imposition of countervailing duty on imports of key chemical sodium nitrite from the neighbouring country.

The Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) in the Commerce Ministry has initiated an investigation into a complaint by domestic firms alleging dumping of sodium nitrite originating in or exported from China, DGAD said in a notification.

Countervailing duties are imposed when a foreign country subsidises its exports, hurting domestic producers in the importing country.

The period of investigation is April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008, DGAD said adding that during the course of the investigation DGAD would determine whether the product is being subsidised and causing injury to the Indian domestic industry.

"The exporters in China, importers and users in India are being informed separately to enable them to file all information relevant," it said. The imports of sodium nitrite, widely used in the pharmaceuticals and textile sector, increased to $5.19 million in April-December 2008-09 from $3.10 million during 2007-08.

India has already imposed anti-dumping duty on several products imported from China which includes yarn, fabrics, some stainless steel products and chemicals.

China has emerged as the largest source of India's imports in the last two years. India's imports from China almost doubled to $24.16 billion in April-December 2008-09 from $12.64 billion in the comparable period of 2006-07, according to the Reserve Bank of India.