Page 7 - Imports

Interim Budget: MedTech industry urges govt action to cut import reliance

According to the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) report on August 2023, the Indian medical devices industry has the potential to expand from $12 billion to $50 billion by 2030

Need to rationalise customs duties in sectors with healthy growth: Official

There is a need to rationalise customs duties particularly in those sectors which are growing at a healthy pace for the last several decades, an official said on Thursday. The official, however, said that providing a protection of high duty is required for the infant domestic industry. "But if the industry is 40-50 years old and has developed, has good competition, good investments and if they are globally known, then they should also be competing with the global firms," the official argued. Normally, customs duties or tariffs are used as a policy tool to ensure a higher level of protection for certain sectors to boost domestic manufacturing. These remarks assume significance as there is demand from countries which are negotiating free-trade agreements with India to cut down import duties in sectors such as auto and alcoholic beverages. Overall duties in certain segments are up to 150 per cent like alcoholic beverages. "There is a need for balancing in the duty structure. One cou

Shoe imports ban, sops to help footwear industry hit $90 bn mark: Report

Market size of the Indian footwear industry can increase by over three times to USD 90 billion by 2030 provided a host of measures such as a ban on show imports, fiscal incentives, more design centres and Taiwanese contract manufacturers setting up shops in the country are taken, a report said on Sunday. Economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said that the Indian footwear market, valued at USD 26 billion, is projected to reach USD 90 billion by 2030. "This growth will be characterized by two main changes - a significant increase in the demand for non-leather footwear (like sports shoes, running shoes, casual wear, and sneakers) in India, rising from 25 per cent to 75 per cent of the market share by 2030; and a shift in leather shoe production from small-scale, cottage industries to large corporates," it said. Suggesting eight actions for the sector, the report said shoe-making technology is primitive compared to electronics or semiconductor manufacturing and Ind

Russian oil imports drop on pricing, not due to payment woes: Hardeep Puri

"There is no payment problem ... It is a pure function of the price at which our refineries will buy," Puri told a press conference

Inflation's pulse: Yellow peas imports to help potential chickpea shortfall

Advancements in pulses technology and its widespread adoption across India could help achieve self-sufficiency. For now, though, the hope is that matar will address the inflation matter

Apple files appeal after Biden admin allows tribunal's ban on watch imports

The U.S. International Trade Commission's (ITC) order will go into effect on Dec. 26, barring imports and sales of Apple Watches that use patent-infringing technology for reading blood-oxygen levels

Foreign exchange reserves rise by $9 bn in week to 20-month high at $616 bn

Gold reserves rose by $446 million in the previous week, whereas Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) increased by $135 million

India's trade deficit fell to $20.58 billion in Nov as imports shrank 4.3%

Trade deficit: The exports, however, fell less sharply by 2.8% in November to $33.90 billion from $34.89 billion a year ago

Imports of luxury chocolate brands zoom 45% on steady uptick in demand

According to industry insiders, imports of such luxurious products in India will be driven by the demand for organic, dark, vegan gluten-free and sugar-free chocolates

Proposed 5% biogas blending with LNG can cut imports worth $1.17 bn: IBA

The proposed 5 per cent blending of biogas with natural gas supplies in the country can cut LNG imports worth USD 1.17 billion annually, says a study by the Indian Biogas Association (IBA). The study comes against the backdrop of the government's recent mandate to blend one per cent biogas with piped natural gas (PNG) supplies in the country from April 1, 2025 under the compressed biogas blending obligation (CBO) scheme. The biogas blending is proposed to be further increased to 5 per cent by fiscal year 202829. According to the study, this blending initiative gels well with the government's macro-level move to make India a gas-based economy, with a target to increase the current share of gas in the energy mix from 6 per cent currently to 15 per cent by 2030. The IBA estimates show that 5 per cent blending of biogas with natural gas can reduce LNG imports worth USD 1.17 billion. This can also bring down per capita CO2 emissions by two per cent, benchmarked to the 2019 figure, which

Russian oil turns dearer for Indian refiners after US enforces price cap

Moves by Washington to enforce the price cap strictly by opening investigations into five tankers transporting Russian oil has created concerns among refiners and traders

Walmart turns to India from China for cheaper imports as it cut costs

Only 60% of its shipments came from China during the same period, down from 80% in 2018, the same data shows. To be sure, China is still Walmart's biggest country for importing goods

India, Australia at risk of becoming dumping grounds for polluting cars

The financial burden of imports on developing nations will also get worse without clear goals to end sales of gasoline vehicles, Scott said

India proposes slashing EV import taxes to clinch UK free trade deal

The UK's demand for import concessions on electric vehicles is one of the few outstanding issues in the free trade talks

Curbs, PLI, quality norms help cut import of some non-essential goods

Steps such as curbs on inbound shipments of certain goods, production linked incentive scheme and mandatory quality norms are helping the country reduce imports of non-essential products such as TV, tyres, wallpaper and AC gas compressors. These steps, among others like imposing antidumping and countervailing duties, have been taken to analyse and control non-essential imports and to augment domestic production capacity in import intensive sectors, an official said. According to an analysis of the commerce and industry ministry, import restrictions imposed on tyres helped cut the inbound shipments by 74 per cent to USD 74 million in 2022-23 from USD 276 million in 2019-20. Calendar year wise, these imports declined to USD 36 million till July this year as against USD 353 million in 2018. The government in June 2020 imposed import curbs on certain new pneumatic tyres used in motor cars, buses, lorries and motorcycles to promote domestic manufacturing and contain imports from ...

Govt to issue end-to-end digital authorisation for laptop, tablets' import

The decision spells relief for global laptop makers such as Dell, HP, Apple, Samsung and Lenovo, which had been unnerved by the abrupt announcement of a licensing regime in August

Amid declining Indian imports, shipments from Russia, Hong Kong see growth

In the realm of exports, India saw diverging trends among its top 10 markets

Weekly India-UK FTA meets taking place, ironing out differences: Govt

The government is working on an import management system - laptops, tablets, and other IT hardware - and it will come into effect on November 1

Govt requests mills to stop raw jute imports on domestic oversupply

The Centre has advised mills to stop importing raw jute because of its oversupply in the domestic market and instructed jute importers to provide daily transaction reports in a prescribed format until December. The jute commissioner's office, representing the Union textile ministry, in a notice on Tuesday also recommended mills not to import jute of TD 4 to TD 8 variants (as per the old classification used in the trade) since these are adequately available within the country. "The variants make up 75 per cent of the total jute production and trade," said Sanjay Kajaria, former chairman of the Indian Jute Mills Association. The current season's production stands at 91 lakh bales, with an opening stock of 23 lakh bales and 5 lakh bales of imported raw jute, resulting in a total estimated availability of 119 lakh bales. According 2021-22 data, jute imports amounted to 62,500 tonnes valued at Rs 449 crore, while exports reached 32,000 tonnes, valued at Rs 222 crore. The jute commissio

DGTR recommends anti-dumping duty on Chinese wheel loaders for 5 years

The commerce ministry's arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended an anti-dumping duty of up to 82 per cent on imports of wheel loaders from China for five years to protect domestic players. The product is a commonly used machinery in infrastructure and mining sectors. The recommendation came after a year-long investigation into the complaints of injury by domestic manufacturers of this product. According to a DGTR notification: "The Authority recommends imposition of definitive anti-dumping duties... so as to remove the injury to the domestic industry". It has concluded in its probe that the imports are coming at prices below the domestic sales price, injuring the domestic industry. The anti-dumping duty, when notified by the Department of Revenue, will be imposed on 'wheel loaders' of less than 7,000 kg capacity and even on imports of semi-knocked-down kits. Completely knocked-down kits have been excluded from the duties as this could end up with anti-dum