CropLife India objects to proposed duty hike

摘要

Agrochemical industry association CropLife India has expressed concerns over a proposal by the country's government to double customs duty on agrochemical formulations to 20%. The proposal, the association says, is detrimental to the interests of growers as it threatens to increase costs of farming, besides crippling the availability of newer and innovative products. The association feels that the government's idea is based on “misleading information”, which suggests “huge” formulation imports by India during the last few months. This, it feels is erroneous, as actual import data reveal otherwise. CropLife India's chief executive oicer, Asitava Sen, says that the government's idea is far from “ground realities” as the amount of formulations imported into the country stood at Rs 18,000 million ($246 million at the current rate), which accounted for barely 20% of the country's imports in the agrochemical sector.