Govt slaps customs duty on steel, soyoil

In the wake of the recent fall in the international prices of commodities and with a view to safeguard the interests of domestic producers, Government has carried out certain changes in the customs duty rates. The Government decided to withdraw the full exemption from customs duty granted earlier on specified iron and steel items such as pig iron, spiegeleisen, semi-finished products, flat products and long products. Consequently, they will be subject to a basic customs duty of 5% ad valorem. It also withdrew full exemption from customs duty granted earlier on crude soyabean. Consequently, crude soyabean oil will be subject to a basic customs duty of 20% ad valorem. There is no change in the import duty on refined soyabean oil. With a view to simplify the refund based service tax exemption scheme on taxable services attributable to exports, the time limit for filing refund claims has been extended from 60 days to six months. While bringing cheer to the industry, the move is also expected to give a marginal relief to the government revenues as well.