India is developing a system to monitor the imports of aluminium and copper into the country. The monitoring system will collect data on imports of primary, secondary, semi-finished and finished products as well as scrap imports into India, confirmed sources.
The development is part of India’s move towards self-reliance as proper tracking can help authorities regulate the import of goods that can be produced by domestic producers. The system could support primary and secondary aluminium and copper manufacturers to increase their share in the domestic market.
India’s aluminium industry is capable of catering to the domestic needs, still, India imports 60pc of its aluminium consumption, which causes a forex outgo of $5.5bn, said Rahul Sharma, CEO Alumina Business, Vedanta Limited, in an exclusive interview to Davis Index, recently.
Through this system, manufacturers will get detailed information on the type, quality and pricing of material imported into India. With this data, India’s metal industry could plan import substitution products domestically. The Ministry of Mines has consulted the stakeholders of aluminium and copper industry to develop this system and is in the process of getting necessary approvals, said sources. Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) will give its final nod on this system soon.
Forty-three aluminium products out of the total 91 items under Chapter 76 HS codes, and 46 out of 51 copper products listed under Chapter 74 of HS codes will be monitor by the system.
Currently, India imports 91 types of aluminium products. The 43 aluminium products which will be monitored account for 99.08pc of the total volume of aluminium imports. In FY2019, India imported Rs381.66bn ($5.11bn) worth of aluminium products, of which aluminium scrap imports were worth Rs170bn. India imported 47 types of copper products which account for 98.79pc of the total copper imports. In FY2019, India imported copper products worth Rs368.73bn ($4.94bn)
India has an efficient steel import monitoring system (SIMS), which came into force in 2019. Under this system, India monitors 284 steel products, of a total of 723 products, for value, volume, quality and country of origin.
($1= Rs74.66)