Import of a majority of the 300 sensitive items identified by the commerce department has come down from their past level.
Sources said, according to the data on the import of 300 items for April this year, which will be announced next week, no import surge has been witnessed in the first month after the complete dismantling of quantitative restrictions.
Though data for individual items are not available, officials said that the high duty structure and the non-tariff barriers have ensured that import of items dies not cross manageable levels.
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As a result of the commerce and industry minister Murasoli Maran's announcement in this year's Exim Policy that imports will have to conform to the domestic laws and standards, the import of some of the items in the first few weeks of April was negligible.
Sources said that this resulted in a decrease in import of a large number of items in April. "The real picture will, however, emerge May onwards, now that the importers have made adjustments," said a commerce department official.
India completed the process of dismantling of quantitative restriction on 10,202 tariff lines with the removal of curbs on 715 items from April 1 this year. Using Gatt's national treatment principle, the inter-ministerial group on QRs had recommended that import of all items should mandatorily comply with all laws and standards that the domestic industry has to meet.
The list of 300 items includes food products, milk and milk products, tea, coffee, edible oils, silk, motor vehicles, toys, pens, cigarettes and bidis.
Maran had announced that import of primary product of plant and animal origin require Bio Diversity & Sanitary Permit which is issued by the ministry of agriculture.
With a view to check import of food items, the government had said that all food items will have to comply with provisions of the Food Adulteration Act and Rules.
Similarly, import of meat and poultry are subjected to compliance with the Meat Food Product Order while tea waste has to meet the norms laid down in the Tea Waste (Control Order).
Stringent checks have also been put on import of second hand and new vehicles as also textile material.