Govt plans anti-dumping duty on Chinese pencillin

India is considering imposing an anti-dumping duty on import of two variants of anti-bacterial drug pencilin to protect the domestic industry from cheap Chinese and Mexican shipments.

"The provisional anti-dumping duty to be imposed on Penicillin-G Potassium and 6-Amino Penicillanic Acid would range between $18.54 per billion oxford units (BOU) and $2.10 per BOU," a commerce ministry official said.

The Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) in its preliminary findings has suggested the Commerce Ministry to impose the duty to check the damage done to the domestic industry, the official said.

However, the imposition of the anti-dumping duty is notified by the finance ministry.

Acting on complaints from the Vadodara-based Alembic and Chennai-based Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC), DGAD, the nodal investigating agency, had initiated the probe into dumping of the two products from China and Mexico.

In its recommendations, DGAD has said the products have been exported to India below its normal value.

"The domestic industry has suffered material injury," DGAD said, adding that the damage has been caused by these imports from China. However, a section of the Indian industry, including some multinationals, has opposed the government move saying that the production of the two bulk drugs in the country is not enough to meet the domestic demand and if the anti-dumping duty is imposed, it may create a sort of monopoly in the domestic market.

Countries initiate anti-dumping probe to see whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of surge in cheap imports. As a counter measure, they impose duties within the multilateral regime of the WTO.