Indian government announced that in the wake of the recent fall in the international prices of commodities and with a view to safeguard the interests of domestic producers, government have carried out certain changes in the customs duty rates.

The details of these changes are as under

Withdrawal of the full exemption from customs duty granted earlier on specified iron and steel items such as Pig iron, spiegeleisen, semi finished products, flat products and long products. Consequently, they will be subject to a basic customs duty of 5% ad valorem.

These changes come into effect on the 18th of November, 2008.

Notification No.122/2008-Customs dated 18.11.2008 has been issued in this regard.

Earlier in April, the India government had withdrawn import duty on steel as part of inflation management exercise.

Ever since the steel prices started nose diving and demand slumped on the back of global recession, the domestic industry has been apprehending a possible dumping of the commodity by leading steel making nations like China, Ukraine and Thailand. To keep cheaper imports at bay, the industry had sought a 15% import duty on steel, besides levying of 14% countervailing duty on imports of the reabrs and sections.