The Government is examining a request to double the import duty on aluminium to 10 per cent, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said on Friday, after companies such as Vedanta Ltd warned of job cuts due to low world prices and rising supplies from overseas.
The Trade Ministry has forwarded a request from the Aluminium Association of India to the revenue department for necessary action, Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament in a written reply.
The department had rejected similar requests earlier, she said.
India’s per-capita consumption of aluminium, used in everything from aeroplanes to lemon squeezers, is about 2.2 kg compared with 25 kg in China. But demand is growing at an annual rate of about 11 per cent against global growth of 6 per cent.
About 1.5 million of the country’s annual aluminium demand of 3.5 million tonnes is met through imports from China and West Asia. Imports rose 4 per cent to 390,000 tonnes in the April-June quarter from a year ago.