Higher customs duty: Overall imports decline, but many items buck the trend

The government's justification for raising the import tariffs from February 2 was to provide protection to the local industry among others

On February 1, 2018, the Union Budget announced a significant increase in the basic customs duty on over 43 broad categories of goods, whose total imports during the immediately preceding year of 2016-17 were estimated at over $86 billion or about 22 per cent of India's total imports that year.

The government's justification for raising the import tariffs from February 2 was to provide protection to the local industry, encourage domestic value addition, boost the 'Make In India' programme and rationalise duties. The consequent increase in the duty burden ranged from one-third to double the prevailing rates. 

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