India lifts anti-dumping duty on Bangladeshi battery
Dhaka: India has formally withdrawn the controversial anti-dumping duty on the lead acid battery export from Bangladesh.
The Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance of India issued a notification, saying there was no export from Bangladesh during the period of investigation and the dumping margin could not be established.
The Indian government imposed the duty on lead acid batteries from all Bangladeshi exporters on January 2, 2002. Rahimafrooz, the leading battery exporter of the country, was the only private party to make an appeal against the duty.
The weak merit of the anti-dumping case coupled with
Bangladesh government's petition in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) prompted New Delhi to consider withdrawing the duty on Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh government placed the case before the WTO and a consultation was held on February 26-27, 2004. The Indian authority initiated a review on March 18 upon petition from the Indian importers.
However, the Indian government notification said, "The lead acid batteries originating in or exported from China and Korea have been exported to India below normal value, resulting in dumping. However, the subject goods exported from Japan are above normal value."
"New Delhi withdrew the controversial duty on Bangladeshi batteries as it realised that it had a weak case in hand. There were also technical faults in the case as far as WTO anti-dumping duty rules are concerned and it had very weak foundation," said a government official.
He added had the government taken the case to the WTO earlier, Dhaka could have scored a big victory over New Delhi.
Bangladeshi battery manufacturers have lost huge market stakes because of the duty. The controversial duty also aggravated the trade disputes between Bangladesh and India.
Dhaka raised the issue in different bilateral platforms, but New Delhi insisted that the duty be levied purely in line with the existing WTO guidelines.
Bangladeshi battery used to enjoy preferential tariff facility under the South Asian Preferential Trading Agreement (Sapta). The duty saw an end to battery export to the next door neighbour as Indian importers had to pay as high as 131 percent duty on the item from Bangladesh.
Earlier, battery import duty in India was 64.21 percent, but under the preferential arrangement, the importers were paying 38.33 percent duty.
Indian authorities imposed anti-dumping duty at a rate of US$ 2.53 per kg on Bangladeshi batteries weighing between 7 kg and 30 kg a piece.
When asked, an official of Rahimafrooz said the company will start exporting lead acid batteries to India soon. "In fact, we have lost our previous market because of the duty. We have to make a fresh start now," he said.
The World Trade Review