With an aim to support domestic manufacturers, Union Minister Suresh Prabhu has said the commerce ministry is in favour of hiking import duty on aluminium. He said the proposal to protect domestic industry is under examination and they support the proposal. He added that there has been a complaint by aluminium industry about dumping of the commodity.
The industry has demanded increase in import duties on aluminium scrap and primary aluminium amid a high growth in inward shipments of these items. They are demanding to raise the duty on primary and scrap aluminium to 10 per cent. Currently, the basic customs duty on aluminium scrap and primary aluminium is 2.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively.
Besides this, domestic players have also urged 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 4 million tonnes and consumption is about 3.6 million tonnes. The demand comes in the wake of the US imposing 10 per cent duty on certain aluminium products. China too has raised the duties. Aluminium is required by the industries like automobile, construction, consumer goods etc.