Government increases effective rate of Customs duty on edible oils
NOTIFICATION No 12/2012 - Cus dated 17.03.2012 is amended to increase the effective rate of duty on most of the edible oils from the existing 7.5 percent to 10 percent.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved the proposal for increasing the import duty on refined edible oils of vegetable origin from the existing level of 7.5 percent to 10 percent at its meeting on 9th January 2014.
The approval has been given in order to maintain a reasonable differential between import duty on crude and refined vegetable oils to protect the domestic refining industry and domestic farmers.
It seems the industry is not very happy with this 2.5 percentage increase as they wanted at least a 5 percentage increase. They feel it is too little too late. Domestic refiners are not able to meet the competition from importers - India is the largest buyer of edible oils and there was a 173 per cent increase in imports during November 2013. The industry suffers from the consequences of a negative inflation.
The changes in the Notification are as tabulated below.
Sl. No. in the Notification | tariff item | description | Existing rate of duty | Revised rate of duty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
56. | 15079010 (edible grade soya bean oil) | All goods | 7.5% | 10% |
58. | 1508 (ground nut oil), 1509 (Olive oil), 1510 (other oils from olive), 1512 (sun flower seed oil), 1513 (coconut oil), 1514 (Rape, colza or mustard oil) or 1515 (other vegetable oils) | All goods, refined and edible grade | 7.5% | 10% |
59. | 1511 90 (palm oil) | All goods | 7.5% | 10% |
63. | 15121910 (edible sun flower oil) | All goods | 7.5% | 10% |
66. | 1514 19 (other oil) or 15 14 99 (other) | All goods, edible grade | 7.5% | 10% |
69. | 1516 20 (vegetable fat and oils) | All goods, edible grade | 7.5% | 10% |
71. | 1517 10 21 (vegetable margarine), 1517 90 10 (Sal fat), 1517 90 20 (-), 1518 00 11 (linseed oil), 1518 00 21 (castor oil) or 1518 00 31 (other edible vegetable oil) | All goods, edible grade | 7.5% | 10% |
Notification No., Dated: January 20, 2014