← External Forces: Trade, Geopolitics & Market Access (all topics)
Anti-dumping duty (ADD)
What it is
A trade remedy under the Customs Tariff Act allowing India to levy duty on imports sold below normal value where they injure domestic producers. The DGTR investigates and recommends; the Finance Ministry notifies
Duties run five years and lapse unless a sunset review extends them. On ductile iron pipes an ADD against Chinese imports has been in place since 2013
Impact on industries
- Removes the cheapest competition from the home market, letting domestic producers hold pricing they could not defend against below-cost imports
- Makes long-gestation capacity investable, since a producer building a blast furnace or chemical plant needs assurance the import floor will not collapse mid-project
- Protection is temporary - a lapsed sunset review removes the floor abruptly, and it shields realisation but not input cost, so exposure remains upstream
- Downstream users pay the higher price, so the same duty that protects a pipe or chemical maker raises input cost for its customers