Indian govt gets serious about reducing Chinese tyre imports

The increased dumping of Chinese tyres is becoming a major concern for the Indian tyre manufacturers. The manufacturers have been complaining that government is not taking any action to restrict China from dumping tyres in Indian market. Finally, the Parliament was informed on Tuesday that the government is looking into the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duty investigation on the import of truck and bus radial tyres from China.

"Director General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) is examining petitions for initiation of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duty investigations on import of bus and truck radial tyres from China," Minister of Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

Additionally, the customs field formations have been instructed to enforce the order 2009 for pneumatic tyres and tubes for automotive vehicles. This order states to restrict the import of tyres that do not have BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) marking.

The Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) released the data that tells us that the automotive tyre production took a hit mainly due to the "cheap imports" from China from April-July 2015 compared to the corresponding period last year.

"The tyre industry is passing through a difficult year as production growth is not only slackening but contraction is being witnessed across key tyre categories," said ATMA Chairperson Dr Raghupati Singhania.

ATMA had requested to put import of truck and bus radial tyres in the restricted list, prohibiting import of tyres without BIS marking. The industry body had requested the government to commence investigations on dumping of tyres from China and increasing import duties on tyres.

Presently, the import of tyres in India is subject to Pneumatic Tyres and Tubes for Automotive Vehicles (Quality Control) Order, 2009 and BIS standards. The retreaded tyres are also restricted for import unless they fulfill the minimum import price criteria.