Anti-dumping law: more time sought

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 25. The industry has urged for a transition period of two months to enable retailers and importers to conform to the twin decisions taken on Friday by the Government to check dumping and import of sub-standard goods.

The grace period will help manufacturers and importers carrying stocks of legal imports to clear their inventories and avoid harassment by the customs staff and other Government agencies. ``It will help manufacturers whose ordered goods are in transit and the retailer whose products are on sale,'' said the president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Shekhar Bajaj.

The decisions have been cautiously welcomed by the industry even as tyre dealers refuted the industry's contention that dumping was widespread in that sector.

A response will be available next week after the industry's think-tank evaluates the impact of invoking the provisions of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodity) Order of 1977 on all packaged imports and making it mandatory for imports of 131 products to conform to Indian quality standards as applicable to domestic goods.

It is felt that the quick action by the Government will go quite some way in meeting the industry's complaint that the domestic market is flooded by cheap and sub-standard imports after quantitative restrictions on over 700 items were lifted. ``The action would protect the industry from undervalued imports, check smuggled goods and tackle the menace of import of sub- standard and spurious products,'' said Mr. Bajaj.

The industry feels that making the Bureau of Indian Standards certificates mandatory for 131 items could curb imports from China. Most of the sub-standard items imported from China which were highlighted in a study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have found mention in the Government list. These include food preservatives and additives, milk power, infant milk food, certain kind of cement, household and similar electrical appliances, gas cylinders and multipurpose dry batteries. However, some other sub-standard items, such as bicycles made out of alloy, that are beginning to play havoc with the manufacturing capabilities of the Indian industry are yet to find a mention.

Asking importers of packaged commodities to comply with several conditions should deter third country businessmen from taking advantage of the trade treaty with Nepal which permits liberal imports from the Himalayan Kingdom.

Although tyre manufacturers are among those leading the outcry against dumping, the All India Tyre Dealers' federation has claimed that tyre imports have halved from 2.50 lakhs to 1.25 lakh between 1997 and 2000. In a representation to the Strategic Management group, headed by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr. Brajesh Mishra, they have claimed that imports are less than one per cent of the total domestic production. On the other hand, manufacturers claim that tyre imports have increased by 30 per cent, mainly from China.

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