Asking the industry to submit fully-documented petitions, she blamed delays in most anti-dumping probes on procedural requirements. The authority is investigating at least 20 anti-dumping cases at present and is gearing up to have a facilitation cell to interact with the industry readily, Jha said. She also clarified that there were no pending cases of countervailing duty with the ministry.

Phdcci president O P Vaish said with the lowering of tariffs, opening up of the economy, phasing out of quantitative restrictions and overall liberalisation, several foreign companies in search of greater market access are increasinglyresorting to dumping.

The affected domestic industries find it difficult to file anti-dumping petition for want of adequate data or information needed for filing the petitions. The industry also feels concerned about the longer time taken in India for initiation of dumping investigations and the imposition of the duty and it is looking forward to some positive developments in this area, he added.

As a consequence, Indian exporters, many of whom can't afford to defend themselves against dumping charges and bear the incidence of heavy legal costs are turning away from these markets towards less regulated markets. Repeated investigations for certain products in foreign countries have also led to a definite decrease in exporter confidence as well as exports to some countries.

Phdcci has advocated that in the US, the time schedule for initiation and investigation is prescribed and the primary determination is to be completed within 160 days from the date of receipt of the application. Similar time schedulesneed to be laid down in India so as to announce levy of provisional anti-dumping duty at the most within 180 days of the receipt of the application.

Insight -- a happy dumping ground

The reduction in the period of investigation into dumping charges from one year to 180 days is hardly the advance it appears to be. Despite mounting complaints of dumping, the designated authority on anti-dumping has just 20 cases under investigation, reflecting industry's inability to concretise charges with adequate data.Industry also lacks knowledge of WTO trade protection laws and anti-dumping mechanisms. Also, since multinationals have plants located in several countries, they are able to circumvent an anti-dumping duty levied on imports from one destination by exporting from other countries.