New Delhi, January 3
As part of the stimulus package announced yesterday, the following changes in customs and additional customs duty rates, and drawback rates have been carried out by the government on items like imported cement, ferro alloys, zinc and TMT bars.
On imported cement, additional customs duty and the special additional duty of customs of 4% was fully exempted from April 3, 2007. This exemption has now been withdrawn. Consequently, imported cement will attract countervailing duty equal to applicable excise duty, and also special additional duty of customs at 4%. On zinc, customs duty was fully exempted from April 29, 2008. This exemption has been withdrawn, and the customs duty rate has been restored to the earlier rate of 5%.
On ferro-alloys, customs duty was fully exempted from April 29, 2008. Subsequently from October 31, 2008, customs duty on certain ferro-alloys, namely, ferro-molybdenum and ferro-vanadium was restored to the earlier rate of 5%. Now, the exemption provided on all other ferro-alloys has also been withdrawn, and the customs duty rate on all ferro-alloys has been restored to 5%. On TMT (thermo-mechanically treated) bars and structurals, additional customs duty was fully exempted from April 29, 2008. This exemption has been withdrawn. Consequently, imported TMT bars and structurals will attract additional customs duty of 10%.
The drawback changes have been made as follows:
The drawback rates have been enhanced on cotton-knitted fabrics, from 4.5% to 5%, on man-made knitted fabrics, from 8.7% to 8.9%, on woollen-knitted fabrics, from 5.7% to 5.8%; and, on agricultural/horticultural/forestry hand tools, from 8.5% to 10% (with a cap of Rs 7.5 per kg).
The value cap has been enhanced for cotton yarn, grey from Rs 8 per kg to Rs 12 per kg, complete bicycles from Rs 203 per piece to Rs 240 per piece, stainless steel cutlery and knives from Rs 23.50 per kg and Rs 19.80 per kg, respectively to Rs 28 per kg. In the case of texturised/twisted yarn of polyester manufactured from partially-oriented yarn (POY), on which terminal excise duty has been paid, the drawback rates are being revised to include the central excise portion.
All above changes in drawback are being implemented with effect from September 1, 2008. Drawback will henceforth be also allowed on boots/half boots/shoes of leather-cum-synthetic/textile materials at 10.5% subject to a value cap of Rs 110 per
pair.
