India imposes anti-dumping duties on China chemical imports

India has imposed anti-dumping duties on four chemicals, including PEDA and Acetonitrile, from China and other countries to protect domestic industries. The five-year tariffs follow trade remedy recommendations amid rising imports and a growing trade deficit with China

New Delhi: India has imposed anti-dumping duty on four Chinese chemicals so far this month to guard domestic players from unfairly priced imports from the neighbouring country. These duties were imposed on — PEDA (used in herbicide); Acetonitrile (used in pharma sector); Vitamin -A Palmitate; and and Insoluble Sulphur.

In separate notifications, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Department of Revenue, said that the duty imposed will be levied for a period of five years on imports of these chemicals. The duties were imposed following recommendations for the same from the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), an arm of the commerce ministry.

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While on PEDA, the duty will range from USD 1,305.6 to USD 2017.9 per tonne, a duty of up to USD 481 per tonne has been imposed on Acetonitrile imported from China, Russia and Taiwan. Similarly, the government has imposed a duty of up to USD 20.87 per Kg duty on Vitamin -A Palmitate imported from China, European Union and Switzerland; and up to USD 358 per tonne on import of Insoluble Sulphur, which is used in tyre industry, and imported from China and Japan.

Anti-dumping probes are conducted by countries to determine whether domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a countermeasure, they impose these duties under the multilateral regime of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO). Both India and China are members of the multilateral organisations, which deals with global trade norms.

The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters. India is taking steps to boost domestic manufacturing and cut imports from China as the country’s trade deficit with China widened to USD 99.2 billion during 2024-25.

In the last fiscal, India’s exports to China contracted 14.5 per cent to USD 14.25 billion as against USD 16.66 billion in 2023-24. The imports, however, rose by 11.52 per cent in 2024-25 to USD 113.45 billion against USD 101.73 billion in 2023-24.