Aluminium Association demands 2.5-5% import duty hike across all aluminium products

According to a recent report, the Aluminium Association of India has urged the government to raise basic customs duty across all aluminium products in a range of 2.5 per cent to 5 per cent for restricting metal scrap imports. The association suggests the duty to be incorporated in the upcoming Union Budget for the financial year 2020-21.

The association has pointed out that despite sufficient domestic capacity of scrap, India imports 60 per cent of its consumption, primarily from China, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and West Asia.

“These countries support their aluminium industry and provide concessions/subsidies with low interest rate loans, cheaper power tariffs, preferential gas allocation, raw materials availability, tax benefits and export tax incentives bringing down the production costs to render competitiveness for their domestic industry," the association said.

According to the Aluminium Association, aluminium scrap imports in India are non-essential as the country has abundant domestic supply. So, to restrict imports and to encourage the domestic aluminium industry, the association has demanded scrap import duty be at par with primary aluminium.

Additionally, the association has sought support from the government to utilise clean energy cess for funding installation of flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) for operational captive power plants (CPPs) and also demanded elimination of high cess on coal of INR 400 per tonne to support power intensive industries and retain competitiveness of the domestic aluminium industry.