India may increase import duty on a chemical from Korea

 Financial Express

September 29, 2020

India is likely to increase import duty on Phthalic Anhydride, a chemical used in insecticides and plastic industry, for two years from South Korea with an aim to guard domestic players from jump in the inbound shipments. The increase in duty was recommended by the commerce ministry’s investigation arm DGTR after concluding a probe into an alleged increase in imports of the chemical from South Korea following complaints by domestic firms.

According to a notification issued by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), IG Petrochemicals Ltd and Thirumalai Chemicals Ltd had filed an application for initiation of the bilateral safeguard probe. In its conclusion, the directorate has stated that increased imports of the product have caused “serious injury” to the domestic industry.

The investigation on the imports was conducted under India-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Bilateral Safeguard Measures) Rules, 2017. It is a kind of a free trade agreement.

“The authority recommends increasing the rate of customs duty on imports of subject goods originating in Korea to the level of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) applied rate of customs duty on the subject goods as on the date of application of bilateral safeguard measure or MFN applied rate of customs duty on the subject goods on the day immediately preceding the date of entry into force of the Trade Agreement, whichever is less,” it said.

The measure is recommended for a period of two years. For the first year, the directorate has suggested to “increase the rate of customs duty @ 100 per cent to the level of most favoured nation applied rate of customs duty”. For the second year, it has recommended to “increase the rate of customs duty @ 75 per cent to the level of Most Favoured Nation applied rate of customs duty”.

The finance ministry will take the final call to impose the duty. The bilateral trade between the two countries slightly dipped to USD 20.5 billion in 2019 from USD 21.5 billion in the previous fiscal. Trade balance is highly in favour of Korea

Reference: https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/india-may-increase-import-duty-on-a-chemical-from-korea/2094522/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

India Joins Russia in Voting Against West-Backed Move to Expand Powers of OPCW

The Wire: June 28, 2018 New Delhi: India voted against a UK-backed move that will allow the global chemical weapons watchdog to apportion blame for illegal attacks, criticising the decision to grant “unchecked powers” to the head of the group which could be used for “partisan” purposes. On Wednesday, more than two-thirds of the member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted to authorise the international body to identify the perpetrators and sponsors of a chemical weapons attack. It also specifically called on the OPCW’s technical secretariat to begin work on identifying the perpetrators behind the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The draft decision, sponsored by 30 countries, was adopted at the fourth special session of the conference of the states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention at the Hague, with 82 in favour and 24 negative votes. While Europe, the United States and their allies voted ‘yes’, there was strong oppo...
Read more

As financial insecurity rises in urban India, so does investment in insurance

Image
Scroll.in March 13, 2020 Urban Indians are becoming less confident about their financial security. Up to 58% of them fret over financial independence post retirement, which is a 4% increase from last year. An equal share of urban Indians worry about meeting their daily medical expenses and sustaining their current lifestyle once they stop working. The findings are part of a survey published by Delhi-based Max Life Insurance in association with London-based consultancy Kantar. The firms surveyed 7,014 respondents in 25 cities, including six metros, nine tier-1 cities, and 10 tier-2 cities, between December 2019 and January 2020. Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz The trends Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz A significant share of urban Indians also say their families will have no financial support in the event of the breadwinner’s death. In such a scenario, around 57% believe the family sav...
Read more

ED tracks Swiss Bank A/Cs of Agusta scamster

The Poineer February 10,2019 Rakesh K Singh The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has tracked a dozen Swiss bank accounts in the name of Rajiv Saxena, who is key accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. The ED has also found out accounts held by  his family members and associates where the kickbacks in the now scrapped deal were allegedly parked. Two bank accounts are in the name of Rajiv Saxena’s  associates Pankaj Jain and Sumita Jain who are also the authorised signatories. The  third is in the name of another associate Ajit Singh Bubber, but Rajiv and his family members are authorised signatories. The remaining nine accounts are largely owned and operated by Rajiv, his family members and associates. Rajiv Saxena was deported by the UAE authorities on January 30 and the ED formally arrested him the next day and a court later granted his remand to the agency. He is currently undergoing custodial interrogation by the ED. The agency had in 2017...
Read more