‘Others’ under fire as govt plans import restrictions
NEW DELHI: Imports of uncategorised items may soon require special licences, with the commerce ministry seeking to curb such imports by shifting them to a restricted list in a month, trade minister Piyush Goyal said.
“We have a big problem in our imports of a category called ‘others’. In that category, all sorts of stuff are being put in and imported into the country. The last analysis I got done, I found one out of four products being imported in the ‘others’ category,” Goyal said at the National Standards Conclave on Wednesday. “I appeal to everybody, who is importing any product or service into the country, please categorise your product into the respective HSN (harmonized system of nomenclature) code where it falls. If your product is imported in sufficient measure, it requires a separate HSN code.”
Importers may face serious consequences if they fail to comply with the directions, the minister said. These could be higher duty on products that come under the “others” category or requirement for a licence to import such items, he said.
“In one month or so, I will restrict the import of every product that goes in the ‘others’ category. You will have to approach us, take a special licence without which you cannot import any product in the ‘others’ category.
Either the import duty will be increased exorbitantly or a special duty imposed so that FTA (free trade agreement) countries also will bear it,” Goyal said.
There are 2,500-3,000 items on the “others” list that are not welldefined, a commerce ministry official said on condition of anonymity. “There is a tendency on the part of the importer to misclassify some items as ‘others’, which can be prevented by better enforcement. However, India has the prerogative to impose a special tariff line for such items,” he said.
Mint reported on 3 January that India is set to implement stricter quality standards for 371 items by March, a move aimed at curbing imports of non-essential items especially from China.
Meanwhile, data released by the commerce ministry on
Wednesday showed that India’s exports contracted for the fifth consecutive month in December by 1.8%, while its imports shrank for the seventh straight month at 8.8%, narrowing the trade deficit to $11.8 billion.
Non-oil, non-gold imports continued to record a substantial contraction of 12.2% in December, reflecting both subdued commodity prices as well as weak demand conditions. “The double-digit contraction sustained by non-oil, non-gold imports for three months in a row is a cause for concern. The reversal of non-oil merchandise exports to a contraction in December, led by gems and jewellery, chemicals after the modest growth seen in the previous two months, is a clear disappointment,” said Aditi Nayar, principal economist at ICRA Ltd.