Govt mulls duty hike on cameras, laptops

The government is considering increasing customs duty on close to 20 product segments including laptops, cameras, textiles and aluminum goods, while placing some steel items under import licensing, as part of its latest move to restrict imports from China.

The issue is now before the finance ministry, which had earlier spurned the proposal from the commerce and industry ministry, sources told TOI. A senior officer said that the revenue department is expected to move ahead by notifying some tariff hikes.

“It is not a China-specific duty action but an overall increase in customs duty, although the idea is to focus on products which are coming in large volumes from China,” another officer explained.