Anti-dumping duty on calculators from Malaysia to help domestic industry: Ajanata Orpat

Patel said that there is no central agency to scrutinise the quality of imported items in the country, and added that the domestic industry should relentlessly focus on local production, expansion of supply chain and improving the quality of products as it would further shoot up demand in India. According to Patel, the Indian calculator market is estimated to be around Rs 1,000 crore and in this, 90 per cent of the market is dominated by foreign players from China, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.

The government's decision to impose anti-dumping duty on imports of electronic calculators from Malaysia will help in pushing the growth of the domestic industry, Gujarat-based Ajanta-Orpat said on Thursday. Earlier this month, India announced USD 0.92 per piece anti-dumping duty on calculators for a period of five years with a view to guard domestic industry from cheap inbound shipments.

Ajanta LLP had filed the application before the commerce ministry for imposition of the anti-dumping duty on imports from Malaysia. Ajanta-Orpat Group Director Nevil Patel said: "Though we won the first step but this (dumping) issue will prevail because (certain) importers import this kind of products to smaller ports, where they somehow manage to take out these products." He said the government should come out with guidelines to stop clearance of dumped goods at smaller ports. Patel said that there is no central agency to scrutinise the quality of imported items in the country, and added that the domestic industry should relentlessly focus on local production, expansion of supply chain and improving the quality of products as it would further shoot up demand in India.

According to Patel, the Indian calculator market is estimated to be around Rs 1,000 crore and in this, 90 per cent of the market is dominated by foreign players from China, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. "Share of domestic calculator industry is only 10 per cent and the rest is driven by Chinese import from Thailand. India has a treaty with Thailand due to that we are not able to stop Thailand products which are basically made in China, but shown as Thailand products,” he told PTI.

All calculator makers in India were almost on the verge of closing business due to Chinese products and tax evasion, Patel said. In international trade parlance, dumping happens when a country or a firm exports an item at a price lower than the price of that product in the domestic market.

Dumping impacts the price of that product in the importing country, hitting margins and profits of manufacturing firms. The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters.