Press Trust of India
New Delhi: The government Wednesday said the demand by primary producers to raise import duty is a “tricky” case as the move will help the bigger players — Hindalco, Balco, Nalco and Vedanta — but may hurt smaller firms that import scrap. The Ministry is reviewing the case for increasing import duty on aluminium and has met with both the primary producers as well as the small companies who import aluminium scrap for various purposes. “In this case there are two things. On one side there are firms who are importing scrap. On the other hand primary players are only four — Hindalco, Vedanta, Balco and Nalco — who tell us to raise the import duty on Aluminium. “But if we increase it then the firms who import scrap will be adversely affected. They have also come to us and said that import duty should not be increased as it will adversely impact them,” Mines Secretary Balwinder Kumar told PTI. He added that the ministry is monitoring the situation and reviewing the demand of both the groups. It is a tricky situation. So there are conflicting interests. We had a meeting with the primary producers and asked them to provide us their results of the first quarter of this fiscal so that we can accordingly decide. “So that we can see what view the ministry has to take. We are awaiting response from the primary metal manufacturers. So we have to see how we have to balance this,” Kumar said. Primary producers are urging the government to raise the basic customs duty on aluminium as they are being adversely affected due to cheap imports from China, Middle East. Last month in Bhubaneswar, Kumar said, “Aluminium sector is… undergoing stressful situation. And we are requesting the finance ministry to take up certain issues which are required to protect the domestic aluminium industry.”
