Drop in imports of sensitive items led to easing port of entry norms: DGFT

Our Economic Bureau

New Delhi, May 22: THE office of the director-general of foreign trade (DGFT) has said that the sharp drop in the imports of 300 sensitive items from Rs 519 crore in April 2000 to Rs 360 crore in April 2001, despite removal of quantitative restrictions on imports, had prompted the government to withdraw the notification restricting imports through select ports.

It, however, added that the government retained the right of reimposing the restrictions if subsequent data furnished by the war-room reflected a substantial increase in imports. Speaking to The Financial Express, joint DGFT OP Hisaria said the ‘port-of-entry’ restriction on imports of sensitive commodities was initially imposed because only the designated ports had suitable electronic data transmission facility. “Since the report of the war group shows that there is no apparent danger of high imports, we have relaxed the condition.”

But, if later imports went up the government could reimpose the restrictions, he said. “If the need for better monitoring of imports of certain commodities is quantified by data furnished by the war-group, the legal right of reimposing restrictions remains with the government.”

The import restrictions on sensitive commodities including milk & milk products, fruit & vegetables, tea & coffee, products of concern to SSIs and automobiles, was imposed on May 2. Although, the initial import figures for April 2001 show a sharp decline compared to last year’s figures, the war-group cautioned that the figures may undergo an upward revision after validation of commodity codes of other tariff lines because of the possibility of some sensitive items having been classified as others in the shipping bills. The provisional import figures of the war-group show that import of milk & milk products went down by 76.79 per cent from Rs 690.5 lakh in April 2000 to Rs 160.24 lakh in April 2001.