Govt may levy 35 pc safeguard duty on aluminium products

NEW DELHI: The Government may soon levy up to 35 per cent safeguard duty on certain aluminium products to protect the domestic industry, dominated by players like Hindalco, Nalco and Vedanta, against cheap imports from China.

Safeguard duty is a temporary protectionist measure, which is brought in for a certain timeframe to avert any damage to the domestic industry from cheap imports.

The Directorate General of Safeguards, Customs and Central Excise, which had last month initiated a probe into cheap arrival of aluminium products in India, has recommended to the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) for imposing ad-valorem provisional safeguard duty for 200 days.

"There exist critical circumstances, where any delay in application of specific safeguard measures would cause damage (to industry), which would be difficult to repair," the Directorate General of Safeguards (DGS) said in its proposal.

The items on which the DGS has proposed imposing the duty are flat-rolled aluminium products, used by sectors like auto and construction, and aluminium foil, widely consumed by the packaging industry, while on flat-rolled items the proposed safeguard duty is 21 per cent, that on foil is 35 per cent.

The aluminium producers led by Hindalco had last month filed a petition with the DGS for imposing safeguard duty against China.