The exemption will help lower domestic prices and keep inflation in check.
New Delhi:
The government on Tuesday exempted the customs duties and waiver for agricultural infrastructure development from annual imports of 20 lakh tons of raw soybeans and sunflower oil, in order to lower domestic prices.
The duty-free importation of 20 lakh MT per year will apply for two FYs (2022-23, 2023-24) for crude soybean oil and crude sunflower oil, the Ministry of Finance said in a notification.
The exemption will help lower domestic prices and keep inflation in check.
“This will bring significant relief to consumers,” the CBIC tweeted.
To contain rising prices, the government last week cut excise taxes on petrol and diesel and also waived import duties on some raw materials used in the steel and plastics industries. In addition, the export tax was increased on iron ore and iron pellets.
A price hike for all items from fuel to vegetables and cooking oil pushed WPI or wholesale price inflation to a record high of 15.08 percent in April and retail inflation to an almost eight-year high of 7.79 percent.
High inflation prompted the Reserve Bank to hold an unscheduled meeting earlier this month to raise the benchmark rate by 40 basis points to 4.40 percent.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
