The government has doubled the import duty on wheat to 20 percent.
- The decision is taken to curb cheap shipments and give positive price signal to farmers in the ongoing Rabi season.
- The import duty on peas has been increased to 50 percent to control cheaper shipments from countries like Canada.
- Recently, the government had also imposed quantitative restrictions on import of other pulses like tur.
- The government aims to give positive price signal and encouragement to farmers to grow wheat in more area as the Rabi season has started.
- India produced a record 22 million tonnes of pulses in 2016-17 crop year and also imported about 5 million tonnes of pulses last fiscal.
What is import duty?
- Import duty is a tax imposed on imports and some exports by the customs authorities of a country.
- It is usually based on the value of the goods that are imported.
- Depending on the context, import duty may also be referred to as customs duty, tariff, import tax and import tariff.
