Commerce Ministry Mulling Import Duty Hike On Aluminium, Says Suresh Prabhu 

The Commerce Ministry is in favour of hiking import duty on aluminium with a view to support domestic manufacturers, Union Minister Suresh Prabhu said.

"That is a proposal to protect our domestic industry. The proposal is under examination and we support the proposal," Prabhu told PTI. The commerce and industry minister said that there has been a complaint by the aluminium industry about dumping of the commodity.

He was replying to a question about the government's plan to increase import duty on aluminium.

Currently, the basic customs duty on aluminium scrap and primary aluminium is 2.5 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively. Besides this, domestic players have also urged the government to impose minimum import price and some kind of quota on the imports for the user industry.

Total production of aluminium in India is about four million tonnes and consumption is about 3.6 million tonnes. The demand comes in the wake of the U.S. imposing 10 percent duty on certain aluminium products. China, too, has raised the duties.

Aluminium is required by the industries like automobile, construction, consumer goods etc. All these industries are growing in India and the country is producing sufficient amount of the required metal domestically, an industry expert said.

As per estimates, during the first quarter of the current fiscal, imports of aluminium scrap increased to 36,000 tonnes from 16,000 tonnes.

Further talking about a proposal to cut export duty on iron ore, the commerce and industry minister said the ministry has sought views of steel and mines ministry on the issue.

"We are open for the proposal," he said, adding the government would provide all support for the growth of domestic industry.