India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) on Sunday asked the government to increase anti-dumping duty on optical fibre to 25 percent, especially on cheap Chinese imports. ICEA sent a letter to Revenue Secretary and Commerce Secretary expressing concerns over the high anti-dumping duty of 30 percent levied by China on Indian optical fibre. Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has also suggested a 10 percent anti-dumping duty on the same responding to the grievance of domestic manufacturers.
While India aspires to be the world’s most competitive and significant global hub for electronics products manufacturing including fibre, it cannot let domestic industry get run over by predatory dumping, ICEA Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo told PTI. “DGTR decisions should be swift and also get implemented swiftly. While we welcome the 10 per cent recommendation by DGTR on fibre, we would like it to be implemented immediately and also a review be done for the 25 per cent rate to be implemented and Indonesia to be included,” Mohindroo said.Another concern brought to light by ICEA in the letter is the circumvention of duties by Chinese companies by following the route of ASEAN country such as Indonesia with whom India has free trade agreement. “It may be noted that five Indonesian companies are interested parties in the DGTR investigation and many of these could be Chinese companies resident in Indonesia. “We urge the Committee of Secretaries to not blindly apply the 3 per cent waiver rule for developing countries, to view the issue in totality considering the possibility of circumvention,” ICEA said in the letter.
