Import Tariff Hike

The government has identified over 350 “non-essential” imports ranging from toys and textile products to footwear and electronic goods on which it intends to initiate a host of measures, including an increase in customs duty apart from putting in place quality control orders to reduce shipments into the country.

Now the Government is looking to pike on tariffs on all imports that escaped higher duties last year such as - Television, cashews,vehicle tyre, organic chemicals etc. The main aim of this move is to boost make in India i.e to promote Domestic manufacturing - said commerce minister Piyush Goyal.

As part of the initiative, public sector companies may also be asked to list out their requirement for products and specifications for the next five-six years so that domestic industry knows the demand and plan accordingly. So, if the standard changes, Indian manufacturers can tweak their production accordingly.

For electronics, the list will be drawn up carefully, recognising that imports of certain products need to be discouraged. A large part of India’s trade deficit is now due to the import of electronic goods and the government believes that the decision to sign the World Trade Organisation’s first Information Technology Agreement, allowing duty-free import of several electronic goods, was responsible for it.

After Crude oil and gold, electronics constitute the third largest import category totalling $52B in 2018-19.A significantchunk of inbound shipments worth $28 billion originated from China and Hong Kong. Proposed higher taxes on televisions
g and air conditioners is the latest measure by which India hopes to reduce itsdependence on China, with which it currently has a $53.5 billion trade deficit.