Economic survey 2011-12: Fine-tune strategy to impose anti-dumping duty

NEW DELHI: The government should fine tune its strategy on anti-dumping duties to avoid unwanted international criticism, the Economic Survey said today.

India has been getting a lot of undue flak for the highest anti-dumping initiations, the survey tabled in the Lok Sabha said.

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"Though India's anti-dumping policy has been directed to checking genuine cases of dumping, there is a need for some fine-tuning of its strategy to avoid unnecessary international criticism," it said.

The country's anti-dumping initiations increased to 55 in 2008, fell to 31 in 2009, but again increased to 41 in 2010.

Brazil with 37 initiations stood second in 2010. During 2011-12 (up to 31 December 2011), six fresh anti- dumping investigations have been initiated by the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD).

"The hype around the high number of anti dumping cases of India needs to be dispelled by highlighting comparative value figures of other countries," it added.

However, the survey said that the domestic economy needs to be adequately protected from the cheap imports of dumped or smuggled goods through the porous Indian borders.

It said that the uncertainty in the international economic environment could lead to a rise in anti-dumping measures by countries in the coming months.

Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to check if the domestic industry has been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a counter-measure, they impose duties under the multilateral WTO regime.

The measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level playing field to domestic players. It is not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in the cost of products.