Plastic industry opposes high duty on raw material

The proposal of the Indian Chemical Council to increase duty on raw material has not gone down too well with the plastic industry, which has urged the government to roll it back. The industry is of the view that the hike in import duty on raw material could lead to supply disruption and affect the cost competitiveness of 50,000 plastic processors in the country. It asked the Centre to increase the customs duty on finished goods to 20% to stop the imports of cheap and unsafe materials to the country. It has also requested the government to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the plastic sector. Furthermore, the industry has demanded the imposition of anti-dumping or safeguard duty on import of low-priced plastic finished goods and maintaining the minimum gap in customs duty between raw materials and finished goods at 12.5%.