Traders urge Centre to impose anti-dumping duty on Chinese goods

Fed up with the continuous imports entering the country from China, which are hindering the realisation of the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiatives, local industry members have demanded an anti-dumping duty on Chinese products.

Representatives from Ludhiana’s industry opine that the Government of India was not serious about the unwanted Chinese imports, which was resulting in its steady rise.

Badish Jindal, president of World MSME Forum, said during 2023-24, Chinese imports were at 6.51 per cent, whereas in the current fiscal year, from April to November 2024, this percentage went up to 10.86 per cent. He said if this trend continued, imports from China would cross 10 lakh crore this year.

According to the data available, the major sector impacted was electricals and electronics, imports for which rose by 23.87 per cent. While the increase in machinery and mechanicals was 14.79 per cent. The increase in aluminium products was 34.28 per cent. The increase in iron and steel imports was 10.13 per cent. The increase in vehicles and auto parts was 17.20 per cent. The import of surgical instruments rose by 11.71 per cent. Increase in knitted fabrics 17.32 per cent and garments 5 per cent, while that of plastic products was 13.99 per cent, said Jindal.

“All these products can be easily manufactured by the MSMEs of India. The increase in imports of these products is clearly a failure of the Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat schemes. We request the Modi-led Central Government to save MSMEs by imposing anti-dumping on Chinese products in India,” said members of the forum.