Finance ministry on Saturday notified
export duty on 11 iron and steel intermediates and lowered import duty on three
key raw materials for steel production and three inputs for making plastic
items, showed an official order. The duty revision is effective from Sunday.
To reduce the cost of domestic
production of steel products, import duty on coking coal and anthracite (high
energy coal) has been reduced from 2.5% to zero while the same on coke and
semi-coke has been brought down from 5% to zero. The import duty on
ferronickel, an alloy containing iron and nickel, has been lowered from 2.5% to
zero.
To increase local availability of
iron ore and a few steel intermediates, export duty has been raised on one item
and imposed on 10 other items afresh. In the case of iron ore and concentrates,
the duty has been raised to 50% on all categories, up from 30% that is now
applicable on lumps above 58% iron content. In the case of iron ore pellets,
which currently does not attract export duty, a 45% duty has been imposed. In
the case of nine other classes of iron ore and steel intermediates a 15% export
duty has been imposed. This includes Flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy
steel.
To lower the cost of domestic
production of plastic products, import duty on naphtha, a hydrocarbon which
goes into production of a host of petrochemicals with commercial and industrial
application has been lowered from 2.5% to 1%. The import duty on propylene
oxide, used in making items like foams in furniture, has been halved to 2.5%.
The import duty on polymers of venyl chloride has been lowered from 10% to
7.5%, showed the order.
The reduction on central excise duty
of ₹8 a litre on petrol and ₹6 a litre on diesel
announced on Saturday are also effective from Sunday, showed a separate order.
News agency ANI reported
quoting Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal that Kerala government has
announced a cut in tax on petrol and diesel by ₹2.41 a litre
and ₹1.36 a litre respectively.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman
said in a tweet that the duty revision on iron and steel and their raw
materials was meant to tame prices.
“We are calibrating customs duty on
raw materials and intermediaries for iron and steel to reduce their
prices," the minister said in a series of tweets.