Govt scraps basic customs duty, cuts agri cess on vegetable oils

The government on Wednesday scrapped basic customs duty as well as slashed agri cess on crude varieties of palm, soyabean and sunflower oil till March 2022, a move which will help cool prices and increase domestic availability in the festive season.

The duty cuts will be effective from October 14 and will remain in force till March 31, 2022, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said in a notification.

Crude palm oil will now attract agri infrastructure development cess (AIDC) of 7.5 per cent, while the rate will be 5 per cent for crude soyabean oil and crude sunflower oil.

Post reduction, the effective customs duty on crude varieties of palm, soyabean and sunflower oil will be 8.25 per cent, 5.5 per cent and 5.5 per cent respectively.

Besides, the basic customs duty on refined varieties of sunflower, soyabean, palmolein and palm oil has been slashed to 17.5 per cent each from 32.5 per cent at present.

“The government has slashed import duties on edible oils because of high retail prices in the domestic market and the festive season,” Solvent Extractors’ Association of India Executive Director B V Mehta said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor