Fearing that countries like China may take advantage of low import duty to dump petrochemical products in India, a top trade body has sent an SOS to the government seeking hike in customs duty to protect the domestic industry and jobs.
The Petrochemicals and Plastic Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) has written to Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers seeking hike in customs or import duty on polypropylene and polyethylene – vastly used in automobiles, packaging, agriculture, electronics and medical devices as well as in construction – from 7.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent.