New Delhi, April 2 (IANS). The Central Government has decided to provide complete custom duty exemption on important petrochemical products till June 30, 2026, amid ongoing tensions in West Asia and disruptions in the global supply chain. The Finance Ministry gave this information on Thursday.
The ministry said in a statement that this step has been taken as a temporary and targeted relief, so that the availability of essential petrochemical raw materials in the country is maintained, cost pressure on downstream industries is reduced and supply remains stable.
According to the government, this relaxation is expected to benefit many sectors which are dependent on petrochemical products, such as plastics, packaging, textile, pharmaceutical, chemical, auto components and other manufacturing sectors.
The government says that this is also expected to provide relief to the consumers of final products.
Major petrochemical products included in this list include anhydrous ammonia, toluene, styrene, dichloromethane (methylene chloride), vinyl chloride monomer, methanol (methyl alcohol), isopropyl alcohol, monoethylene glycol (MEG) and phenol etc.
Apart from this, products like acetic acid, vinyl acetate monomer, purified terephthalic acid (PTA), ammonium nitrate, polymers of ethylene (which includes ethylene-vinyl acetate), epoxy resins, formaldehyde, urea formaldehyde, melamine formaldehyde and phenol formaldehyde are also included in this list.
In view of the Iran war and its impact on maritime trade, the central government had last month also decided to restore the rates and value caps for all eligible export products under the RoDTEP (Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products) scheme under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry from March 23.
The move is aimed at providing timely support to Indian exporters who are facing rising freight costs and war-related trade risks, especially due to disruptions in sea routes to the Gulf and West Asia.
At the same time, the government also said that India has sufficient stock of crude oil, petrol, diesel, ATF, LPG and LNG, due to which short-term difficulties can be easily faced. Also, the country continues to source energy from various global suppliers.
–IANS
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