-
ALSO READ
Average prices of 11 essential food items fell 2-11% in last month: Govt
Govt working on ways to contain surge in imports of non-essential goods
Retail prices of essential food items spike significantly in one year
Centre to levy import duties on non-essential items as exports fall: Report
India, US to conduct 'Yudh Abhyas' near China border from Nov 15: Report
-
The government is undertaking an exercise to cut imports of non-essential goods with a view to enhancing domestic production of those items, an official said on Wednesday.
Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that the commerce ministry has provided product-wise import figures to all the ministries.
"We are asking the different ministries that they should analyse that data and they should look at data from the angle that which imports are essential and which are non-essential," he told reporters here.
The ministries would look at issues like if those goods are being manufactured in India and if there is sufficient capacity for those products.
"If there is a sufficient capacity within the country and still it is being imported, then we are trying to educate that it can be substituted by the domestic manufactured product," he said.
"What we are saying is that if our domestic maker is capable of producing the same kind of quality with the same price then obviously that should be substituted," the secretary added.
He said that different ministries will look at how they can encourage those imports to get substituted by domestic production.
"We are also looking at import diversification..the exercise will help manufacturers," he added.
Containing these imports would also help reduce the trade deficit, which has reached USD 247.52 billion during April-February 2022 as against USD 172.53 billion in the same period last fiscal.
Imports during the 11-month period of the current fiscal increased by 18.82 per cent to USD 653.47 billion.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Subscribe to Business Standard Premium
Exclusive Stories, Curated Newsletters, 26 years of Archives, E-paper, and more!
Insightful news, sharp views, newsletters, e-paper, and more! Unlock incisive commentary only on Business Standard.
Download the Business Standard App for latest Business News and Market News .
First Published: Wed, March 15 2023. 22:10 IST
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU