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India's Ministry of Finance has moved to ease the burden of edible oil imports by reducing customs duties on crude and refined variants of soybean, palm, and sunflower oils, according to a notification issued on Wednesday.
The Department of Revenue, operating under the Ministry, also scrapped the basic customs duty (BCD) entirely on crude sunflower oil, bringing the rate down from 10% to zero. The BCD on refined sunflower oil has been lowered from 32.5% to 22.5%.
For soybean and palm oils, the BCD on the crude grades has been cut from 10% to 5%, while the duty on refined soybean oil and refined palm oil has been reduced from 32.5% to 27.5%.
The revised duty structure will take effect from September 24.
The reductions come against the backdrop of India's heavy dependence on imported edible oils to meet domestic consumption needs. Lower import duties are expected to reduce the landed cost of these commodities, with retail prices likely to soften depending on global price trends, currency movements, and the extent to which the reduction is passed down through the supply chain.
The announcement is particularly significant given that Indian edible oil companies had been planning to raise prices by approximately 7% to 8% ahead of the festive season, citing higher import costs that were squeezing company margins. The duty cuts are now expected to help ease price pressures on retail consumers during the peak demand period.
Source: The New Indian Express