India to “Sort Out” Rubber, Tyre Duty Inequality

India’s government may be set to rectify the disparity between duties charged on natural rubber and imported tyres. The Press Trust of India reports that commerce secretary Dr Rahul Khullar told journalists on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry event to “give me a month's time, we are trying to sort out the problem of inverted duty structure."

The most recent data release by India’s Rubber Board shows the country’s natural rubber production to have been 56,400 tonnes in May, while consumption reached 79,150. India based tyre makers are thus reliant on the highly taxed natural rubber imports to maintain production, while their (mostly Chinese and South Korean) competition are able to import finished tyres more competitively. To give domestic manufacturers a more level playing field, the industry has sought a reduction in the import duty on rubber to 7.5 per cent or an increase in duty on imported tyres to 20 per cent. In August, India’s minister for Commerce & Industry, Anand Sharma, ruled out a reduction in rubber import duty.