Sensitive items’ import dips 13%

NEW DELHI: Import of the 350 ‘sensitive’ items being monitored by the commerce ministry has registered a fall of 12.5% in fiscal year ’05-06 to Rs 16,469 crore compared to Rs 18,832 crore imported in ’04-05.

The decline, however, has not been uniform as a number of products being monitored like spices, automobiles and coffee, have experienced a significant increase in imports.

Among spices, import of black pepper has gone up sharply to Rs 90 crore in April-March ’05-06 from Rs 37 crore in the previous fiscal, registering a hike of 143%. This has happened mainly due to a surge in imports from Sri Lanka at 0% duty under the India-Sri Lanka free trade agreement (FTA).

Automobile imports registered a 21.6% increase to Rs 558.1 crore in ’05-06 from Rs 457.4 crore in ’04-05. The early harvest scheme of the India-Thailand FTA, which allows import of 82 items including auto-components under reduced duties, could be held partially responsible for the increase.

Import of coffee went up by 82.6% from Rs 55.6 crore to Rs 101.6 crore, while imports of fruits and vegetables increased by 18.4% from Rs 2,650.5 crore in April-March ’04-05 to Rs 3,137.5 crore in fiscal ’05-06.

Products which registered a decline in imports include edible oil, cotton & silk, milk & milk products and rubber.In the edible oils segment, while import of crude oil has gone up by 21.7% from Rs 6,287 crore in ’04-05 to Rs 7,651.7 crore, imports of refined oil has registered a 77.5% drop from Rs 4,778.9 crore in ’04-05 to Rs 1,058.7 crore in ’05-06.