India imposed anti-dumping duty on 99 Chinese products: Commerce Ministry

New Delhi: To protect domestic players from cheap imports, India has imposed anti-dumping duty on as many as 99 Chinese products as on January 28 this year, Parliament was informed Monday.

"As on 28.01.2019, anti-dumping duty is in force on 99 products imported from China," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Chinese products on which the duty was imposed include chemicals and petrochemicals, fibres and yarn, machinery items, pharmaceutical, rubber and steel items, he said.

Countries carry out anti-dumping probe to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports.

As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of the World Trade Organization. The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trade practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers with regard to foreign producers and exporters.

The minister also said that the government has been taking continuous and sustained steps to bridge trade deficit by lowering the trade barriers for Indian exports to China.

Various meetings have been held with Chinese counterparts as a part of ongoing efforts to seek market access for various Indian agricultural products, animal feeds, oil seeds, milk and milk products, and pharmaceuticals.

During April-December 20181-19, imports from China stood at USD 53.87 billion as against USD 76.38 billion in 2017-18.