Delhi announces major import duty cuts
Pallab Bhattacharya, New Delhi
Seeking to contain inflationary pressures on the economy and bring down cost of production, the Indian government has announced customs duty cuts on a range of products, including cement, steel, zinc and copper.The customs duty on Portland cement has been scrapped from 12.5 percent, an official release of the Indian Finance Ministry said on Monday. The duty on project import has been slashed to 7.5 percent and the tariff reduction will take effect immediately. The move came five to six weeks ahead of the national budget and against the backdrop of Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram expressing concern over rising inflation, which has been ruling over six percent. The government has attempted to reduce the cost of manufacturing in basic industries and ensure infrastructure development, the release said. Project imports and capital goods imports will now attract a 7.5 percent duty as compared to the earlier range of 10-12.5 percent and the facility will be available to airport development and metro rail projects. The government had recently cut prices of petroleum products to check inflation and with the latest round of customs duty cuts, it hopes to rein inflation to below five percent.
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