Government undertaking an exercise to cut imports of non-essential items

NEW DELHI - The Government is undertaking an exercise to cut imports of non-essential goods with a view to enhancingdomesticproductionofthoseitems,anofficialsaid. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that the Commerce Ministry has provided product-wise import figurestoalltheMinistries.

"We are asking the different Ministries that they should analyse that data and they should look at data from the angle thatwhichimportsareessentialandwhicharenon-essential," he told. The Ministries would look at issues like if those goods are being manufactured in India and if there is sufficient capacityforthoseproducts.

"If there is a sufficient capacity within the country and still it is being imported, then we are trying to educate that it can be substitutedbythedomesticmanufacturedproduct,"hesaid.

"What we are saying is that if our domestic maker is capable of producing the same kind of quality with the same pricethenobviouslythatshouldbesubstituted,"theSecretary added.

He said that different Ministries will look at how they can encourage those imports to get substituted by domestic production.

"Wearealsolookingatimportdiversification.Theexercise willhelpmanufacturers,"headded.

Containing these imports would also help reduce the trade deficit, which has reached USD 247.52 billion during April-February 2022 as against USD 172.53 billion in the same periodlastfiscal.

Imports during the 11-month period of the current fiscal increasedby18.82percenttoUSD653.47billion.