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Micro, small and medium rubber enterprises have protested against any further import duty hike on natural rubber.
All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA), in a petition to the government, has asked for taking into consideration the plight of over 5,500 rubber MSMEs in the country before taking any step for increasing duties.
An expert group formed by the government has been finalising the national rubber policy.
The group, formed last year, has had a series of meetings with both rubber producers and consumers and has taken a note of their respective issues and concerns.
The final report of the working group is to be released soon. In all fairness, the Government needs to wait for the national rubber policy and take a concerted decision on a major issue such as increasing duties, Mohinder Gupta, President, AIRIA said.
According to rubber MSMEs, India already levies one of the highest duties on import of rubber and one of the lowest duties on import of finished rubber goods.
As a result the competitiveness of the Indian rubber industry is affected and many rubber units have already closed down.
The difference between domestic rubber production and consumption has grown to almost 4 lakh tonnes. There is no other way but to import rubber to keep the factories running. Import duties on rubber, therefore, should be reduced and brought to the level of import of finished rubber goods so as to address inverted duty in the rubber sector, said AIRIA.
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