Steps taken to protect domestic industry from unfair trade practices: Govt

The commerce ministry on Wednesday said the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has taken various measures to protect domestic industry from unfair trade practices.

Consequently, the number of anti-dumping duty cases has risen from 5 in 2016 to 25 up to November 1, the ministry said in a statement.

It also said streamlining of the anti-dumping investigation process has reduced the number of days taken for initiating such probes and has led to a reduction in the number of cases.

Expeditious processing of applications has eliminated the need for the domestic industry to update information and data, it said.

"DGTR has, for the first time, initiated two cases of bilateral safeguards this year. No bilateral safeguard case has ever been initiated in the past," it added.

There has also been a reduction in the number of actual days taken to initiate investigations.

Average number of days taken for initiation of anti-dumping investigations during this year is 32 days as compared to 110 days during 2017 and 259 in 2016, it said.

Further, steps taken by DGTR has provided a level-playing field for domestic industry and the average number of days taken for initiation of countervailing duties (CVD) cases during 2019 was 66 days as compared to an average of 72 days in 2018.

The actual average number of days taken for initiation of global safeguards at present is 61 days as compared to the standard 75 days earlier, it said.