India cuts customs duties on petchem products

New Delhi – The Indian government is planning to reduce its customs duties on a number of petrochemical products, including styrene and butyl acrylate.

In a release of its annual budget for the fiscal year 2015-2016, the government announced on 1 March that basic custom duties on styrene, ethylene dichloride [EDC], and vinyl chloride monomer [VCM] would be cut to 2 percent, from 2.5 percent.

Also, the government has envisaged a reduction from 4 percent to 2 percent of the “special additional duty” on styrene, ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride monomer for use in manufacture of excisable goods.

Basic Customs duty on butyl acrylate will be reduced from 7.5 percent to 5 percent.

The reduction aims to benefit India’s polymers industry by boosting domestic manufacturing and making it more competitive.

The duty cuts are also expected to encourage new investment and capacity addition in the chemicals and petrochemicals sector.