India hikes import duty on 29 products

India has increased customs duty on 29 products, including pulses and iron and steel products, imported from the US as a retaliatory action against the tariff hike by US.  

The duty hike would come into effect immediately for other products, while for artemia, a kind of shrimp, the 15 per cent hike would be effective from August 4, the finance ministry said in a notification.

The other products on which duties have been hiked include certain kind of nuts, iron and steel products, apples, pears, flat rolled products of stainless steel, other alloy steel, tube and pipe fittings, and screws, bolts and rivets.However, there was no duty hike on motorcycles imported from the US.

Last week, India had submitted to the WTO a revised list of 30 items on which it proposed to raise customs duties by up to 50 per cent. The move was in retaliation to the duty hike by the US on certain steel and aluminium products which had tariff implication of $241 million on India.

India's exports to the US in 2016-17 stood at $42.21 billion, while imports were $22.3 billion.