Centre slashes import duty on refined palm oil to 12.5%

New Delhi: Concerned over high prices of cooking oils, the government has reduced the basic customs duty on refined palm oil to 12.5 per cent from 17.5 per cent till March next year to boost domestic supplies and bring down rates in the domestic retail markets.

With reduction in the basic custom duty (BCD), the effective levy (including social welfare cess) on both refined palm oil and refined palmoline will come down to 13.75 per cent from 19.25 per cent, according to Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA).

On Monday late evening, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) issued a notification which "seeks to reduce BCD on refined palm oil and its fractions from 17.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent till March 31, 2022". The new rate is effective from Tuesday.

The average retail prices of groundnut oil on Monday stood at Rs 181.48 per kg, mustard oil at Rs 187.43 per kg, vanaspati at Rs 138.5 per kg, soyabean oil at Rs 150.78 per kg, sunflower oil at Rs 163.18 per kg and palm oil at Rs 129.94 per kg, as per the data available with the consumer affairs ministry.

Reacting on the duty cut, SEA President Atul Chaturvedi on Tuesday said: "The announcement of reducing import duty on palmolien ( refined Palm) from 19.25 per cent to 13.75 per cent without simultaneously reducing import duty on CPO has the potential to increase the imports of refined palmolien at the cost of CPO which is the raw material for our refineries."

"This is contrary to our principle of Aatma-Nirbharta and may harm employment generation and value addition within India," he said.