3-wheelers not to pay calamity duties

The 1 per cent National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD) will not be levied on three-wheeler carriers and goods carriers that run on eco-friendly fuel, the finance ministry has clarified.

A notification exempting passenger carriers with seating capacity of up to seven and goods carriers and CNG/LPG carriers was issued by the ministry of finance on May 13.

Earlier, industry bodies like the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) had appealed to the government to spare public service vehicles from additional duties.

Though the original policy of the government was to keep these categories of vehicles out of the ambit of NCCD, an excise reclassification in the Budget brought these under purview.

A Siam official said in its post-Budget memorandum the society had submitted that this levy was contrary to the government policy of promoting alternative fuel vehicles and providing economic transport for common people and requested its withdrawal.

The NCCD was first introduced by the previous National Democratic government in 2001 for two years. In the last Budget, Finance Minister P Chidambaram made it a permanent fixture. Following reclassification of goods and services, some of the exempt items had found their way into the ambit of NCCD.

Along with the three-wheelers and CNG vehicles, the notification has also removed non-branded hookah or gudaku tobacco, non-branded homogenised' or 'reconstituted' tobacco, non-branded tobacco extracts and essence from the ambit of the NCCD.

The notification also clarified that the brand names include those not registered such as a name or a mark, symbol, monogram, label, signature or invented words or any writing which is used in relation to a product.