India will impose duties on imports within the norms of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to protect domestic industry and boost the economy, the commerce ministry said Tuesday.
"We will use those options to further our interests', whether it is to develop our own economy or to protect our consumers from sub-standard products or whether to regulate some products in public interest. So certainly those options will be exercised," Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan told reporters here.
He was replying to a question about the government's decision to impose import restrictions on imports of non-essential products.
He said that as far as tariff policy is concerned, India is a developing economy and it has the right under the WTO to use tariff within the bound rates.
Bound duty rates are tariffs over which a WTO member country cannot hike the customs duties.
"Developing country's infant industries' need protection. Our bound (duty rates) in the WTO have been shaped in that philosophy. We will certainly use...," he added.
The secretary said that these are policy instruments in the hands of policymakers and there are several concerns as far as imports are concerned.
"One concern is public safety and health, sub-standard products getting imported, which can harm consumers," he said adding the government is taking steps put in place standards for goods to protect consumers' interest.
Earlier this month, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the government's decision to relax norms for raising overseas borrowing and impose restrictions on non-essential imports as part of efforts to check rising current account deficit (CAD) and a falling rupee.
Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has stated that the Centre has prepared a list of non-essential items whose imports can be curbed and also drawn up a separate list of goods whose exports can be boosted with a little policy intervention.
The government may increase import duties on certain goods from sectors including metals, textiles, electronics and leather to contain outflow of US dollars.
Further, when asked about the government's plan to formulate a national e-commerce policy, Wadhawan said there is no deadline to release that policy.
However, he did not elaborate on whether the government would come out with a separate policy.
"If something is required, then that will be considered," he said when asked about the proposed e-commerce policy.
He added that it is not a single effort that "one day it would start and the fourth day it will end".
A draft e-commerce policy has suggested several steps to promote the growth of the fast-growing sector. It has stated that online retail firms may have to store user data exclusively in India in view of security and privacy concerns.
The draft stated that any group company of an online retailer or marketplace may not be allowed to directly or indirectly influence the price or sale of products and services on its platform.
Certain quarters have raised concerns over some of the proposals of the draft policy. To address that, the government has set up a group of secretaries to look into the issues.
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