India Imports

Exporters: Know when you can claim duty drawback and Rodtep benefits

Drawback and Rodtep will be available only against export of goods. At the time of export of goods, one must declare the value of the goods in the shipping bill

India's finished steel imports from China reach all-time high, shows data

Total imports of finished steel were at an eight-year high with India, the world's second-biggest crude steel producer, a net importer during the period

India's imports from UAE jumps 109% to $6.12 billion in Nov, shows data

India's imports from its free trade agreement partner UAE have jumped 109.57 per cent year-on-year to USD 6.12 billion in November, leaving a trade deficit of over USD 3 billion during the said month, according to the commerce ministry data. India's exports to the UAE rose by 11.38 per cent to USD 3 billion in the last month. Cumulatively, the imports from the UAE during April-November rose by 60.84 per cent to USD 44.76 billion against USD 27.83 billion in the same period previous fiscal, while exports were up by 15.25 per cent year-on-year to USD 23.94 billion compared to USD 20.77 billion in April-November 2023-24. The FTA between India and the UAE came into effect in May 2022. The UAE is the third-largest trading partner of India with USD 83.65 billion bilateral trade in 2023-24. The major goods imported include mineral oil, chemicals, essential oils and perfumes, precious and semi-precious stones, iron and steel products, copper, nickel and aluminium goods. Further, as per t

'Should not be concerned much about imports as long as exports' grow'

India should not be overly concerned about imports as long as exports' share continues to grow, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Thursday. He also said the world needs to avoid protectionism which creates more trade barriers and hinders movement of goods. The secretary said that one needs to avoid the mercantilist approach and should not bother too much about trade balance and imports. "Because if the Indian economy is growing at 7 per cent and if the world is growing at 3-3.5 per cent rate of growth then obviously India will be requiring more of consumption, more of imports and let me tell you that the role of imports in exports is also very very important," he said at a CII event. Imports of raw materials and intermediate products are essential, he said. "As long as we are able to improve our exports share, we should not be too much concerned about imports and that is what I feel that we need to avoid," he added. Further, Barthwal said developed countries are confused

Govt mandates use of locally-made solar cells from 2026 to curb imports

The government plans to increase its non-fossil fuel capacity to 500 GW by 2030 from about 156 GW at present

Biden should revive WTO dispute settlement mechanism before leaving

The decision to give a second term to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala reflects broad recognition of her exceptional leadership and strategic vision for the future of the WTO

GOP lawmaker seeks to impose robust tariffs on Indian ceramic tile imports

Ahead of his party coming to power, a GOP lawmaker has demanded a robust tariffs on Indian ceramic tile imports claiming that the tile manufacturing industry in his state has been negatively impacted by the unfair and uncompetitive trade practices of Indian exporters, threatening good-paying manufacturing jobs in Tennessee. Tennessee jobs are at risk due to India's unfair and uncompetitive trade practices in the ceramic tile market, Congressman John Rose said after sending a letter in this regard to the outgoing Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Tennessee's manufacturers deserve a fair shake on the world stage, he said, adding that India's underhanded subsidisation and dumping of ceramic tile is upending the domestic market and hemming in American manufacturers. The Department of Commerce should use the tools at its disposal to aggressively counteract these nefarious trade practices to protect Tennessee jobs and domestic manufacturing, he said. In May, the department announced ...

Paper industry body flags below-cost imports, demands level playing field

Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) has expressed concerns over rising imports of virgin fibre paperboard from countries like China and Chile, saying that below-cost shipments are hitting local producers and threatening their investments. The IPMA said that imports of virgin fibre paperboard (VFP), mainly used as packaging material for pharma, FMCG, and cosmetics products, have grown more than three-fold to 21,233 tonnes per month in the first six months of 2024-25 compared to the average 6,337 tonnes per month in 2021-22. "In August and September of the current fiscal, imports have been over 30,000 tonnes per month, which is over 20 per cent of the total domestic demand," IPMA said in a statement while demanding a level-playing field for local manufacturers. The situation is getting exacerbated by the rising imports from China and Chile and the impending threat of large-scale imports from Indonesia due to the recent capacity expansion of 1.2 million tonnes per annum mainl

CBIC should review its MOOWR instructions to ease operations for units

Irritants persist for MOOWR units, although over five years have passed since the introduction of MOOWR 2019 regulations

Laptop import cut of 5% in works; govt wants no supply disruption

The caveat assumes significance in context of the govt's announcement of its plan in Aug 2023 to issue licences for import of select IT hardware products to reduce the country's dependence on China

India's merchandise exports surge 17% in Oct, fastest pace in 28 months

Trade deficit widens to $27 bn as imports hit a high

China top import source for India during Apr-Oct, exports to China dip 9%

China was India's top import source with USD 65.89 billion, a 9.8 per cent year-on-year increase, worth of inbound shipments during the April-October period of this fiscal, according to the commerce ministry data. Exports to China, however, dipped by 9.37 per cent to USD 8 billion. During the period, the US emerged as the top export destination for the country with outbound shipments increasing by 6.31 per cent to USD 47.24 billion. During the period, the top 10 import sources of India were China, Russia, the UAE, the US, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Korea, Switzerland and Singapore, the data showed. Imports from Russia rose by 8.85 per cent to USD 38.8 billion during April-October this fiscal from USD 35.65 billion a year ago. Similarly, the inbound shipments from the UAE rose by 55.12 per cent to USD 38.64 billion from USD 24.9 billion in the first seven months of the last fiscal. During the period, the top 10 export destinations of the country were the US, the UAE, the ...

India's import dependence on key pharma ingredients may reduce by half

Two newly inaugurated units will manufacture important molecules used in several common antibiotics

Retaliatory tariff on European Union: India to firewall local biz

The government's policy decision aims to avoid hurting the local industry by imposing higher import duty on key raw materials or intermediate goods from the trade bloc

Govt working on revamped interest subvention scheme for exporters

IES is an interest subvention scheme, under which benefits in the interest rates charged by the banks are given to the exporters on their pre and post shipment rupee export credits

Thaw in Indo-China ties: How bilateral trade fared in last decade

China has been among India's top two trade partners for close to over a decade, although New Delhi's import dependency on Beijing has been high as compared to exports

Trade game: India's exports to 8 of top 10 markets grow in H1 FY25

Netherlands, US, UK see positive growth despite muted global demand

India recalibrates FTA strategy amid past challenges and rising imports

Standard operating procedure will take into account strategy towards modern FTA issues such as environment, labour, and digital trade

Meeting 2030 target may push India's solar imports to $30 bn per yr: GTRI

The country's target of installing 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030 may push solar equipment import bill to about USD 30 billion per year and increase dependence on Chinese goods, think tank GTRI said in a report on Sunday. It said developing a self-reliant solar manufacturing industry in India will require significant investment to create an integrated supply chain, especially in areas like polysilicon and wafer production. Without this, India may continue to face high import costs and struggle to meet its renewable energy goals. India installed 15 GW of solar capacity in 2023-24, raising the total to 90.8 GW by September, compared to just 2.8 GW in 2014, it said. To meet the government's target of installing 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030, India needs to significantly ramp up installations to 65-70 GW each year, with over 80 per cent of this target expected to come from solar power, according to the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI). "This target seems ambitious, ...

Showcause notice only a demand notice and not an adjudicating order

Rajagopalan answers readers' SME queries related to GST, export and import matters