Basic Duties On 8 US Products To Stay, Only Retaliatory Tax Gone: Official

The items on which the retaliatory tax has been removed include lentils, almonds, walnuts and apples.

New Delhi:

The basic customs duties and other levies will continue on eight products, including apple and walnut from the US as well as other countries, a senior government official said on Friday.

Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce Peeyush Kumar said that India had imposed retaliatory customs duties on 28 American products in 2019 against US measure to impose duties on certain steel and aluminium products.

He added that India has withdrawn only retaliatory duty on eight products – chickpeas, lentils, almonds, walnuts, apples, boric acid, diagnostic reagents – in 2023 and the value of imports into India from the US stood at $1.08 billion in 2022-23.

In return, India has gained market access for indefinite period into the US through commitments for granting approval to 70 per cent and 80 per cent of exclusion requests, respectively, for Indian steel and aluminum products.

Total volume approved is 3.36 lakh MT (metric tones) and its total value is $ 1.01 billion, Mr Kumar told reporters here.

“The existing BCD (basic customs duty) rates for all the 8 products along with applicable surcharge, cess, IGST, etc. prevails for these imports from all the countries including the US,” he said.

In addition, he said, Indian apples would be shielded against dumping of low quality and predatory pricing through the Minimum Import Price (MIP) of Rs 50 per kilogramme for imports from all countries except Bhutan.

The retaliatory duties removed are 10 per cent on chickpeas, 20 per cent on lentils, Rs 7-20 per kg on almonds,; and 20 per cent each on walnuts, apple, boric acid, and diagnostic reagents.

The BCD on these goods are 60 per cent on chickpeas, 30 per cent on lentils, Rs 35-100 per kg on almonds, Rs 100 per cent on walnut; 50 per cent each on apples, 7.5 per cent on boric acid, and 10 per cent on diagnostic reagents. 

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