The manufacturers of copper in India would like the law to be amended to plug alleged evasion of customs duty on copper scrap imports. | |
| Approximately 100,000 tonnes of copper scrap was imported last year. Copper manufacturers alleged that the government was losing duty of around Rs 200-300 crore a year. |
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| Tarun Grover, chief executive officer, International Copper Promotion Council of India, alleged imports were hurting domestic copper producers. |
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| "The government should increase its vigilance over the imports. It has to ensure the fixing of prices based on London Metals Exchange (LME) copper prices or stipulate the tariff value for various grades of copper scrap on which custom duty should be levied to curb the practice," he said. |
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| Copper scrap importers and users were attempting to lower the input cost of copper scrap by paying lower duty. |
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| Copper of poor quality was reportedly being used to manufacture some brands of electrical appliances and wiring. Poor quality copper led to conduction losses. |
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| Copper has to be 99.97 per cent purity for optimum safety and efficiency. Almost one-third of the units making electrical appliances sector were in the unorganised sector and some were using low-grade copper, according to A A Khan, chief of the technical cell, Anchor Electricals. |
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| Imported cable and wire from Sri Lanka was also hurting the industry. The grades of copper scrap commonly being imported into India included Red Berry, Berry, Birch and Candy. |
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