The government is considering a request for doubling the duty on aluminium imports to 10 percent, following representations that import of aluminium scrap and the metal's decreasing global prices are adversely impacting the industry in India, parliament was told on Friday."The Aluminium Association of India has requested for increasing basic custom duty on aluminium products from 5 percent to 10 percent and to increase basic custom duty on aluminium scrap to bring it at par with the duty on primary metal," Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha in a written reply."The same has been sent to the department of revenue for necessary action," she said.
"Earlier requests were examined by department of revenue as part of the Budget 2015-16 and had not been acceded to," the minister added.India's aluminium demand has been growing at an annual rate of about 11 percent, compared to a global growth of 6 percent. Imports rose 4 percent to 390,000 tonnes in the first quarter of this fiscal ending June, compared to that in the same period a year ago.Nearly a half of India's annual aluminium demand of 3.5 million tonnes is met through imports from China and the Middle East.