NEW DELHI: Faced with the threat of cheap imports, particularly from China, flooding the Indian market, the Commerce Ministry is mulling a temporary licensing regime for import of select items.

The Ministry has also asked different Government wings and industry associations to keep a closer watch on the volume of imports landing at the Indian ports and airports at a time when the world commodity prices have seen a sharp decline.

The Commerce Secretary, Mr G.K. Pillai, had earlier this week convened an inter-ministerial meeting to discuss different options to protect domestic industry at least on its home turf, against the aggressively priced goods from abroad, an official source said.

While India, under the World Trade Organisation obligation, has done away with quantitative restrictions on imports, it can invoke certain windows of multilateral laws to bring certain items from the ‘Open General Licence’ to a temporary licensing regime .

Items like bicycle parts, dry battery cells and some electronics items of interest to small-scale units may come under the restrictive import regime.

Besides the licensing, other curbs like imports at select ports may be imposed.

These restrictions are being considered since the anti-dumping mechanism, provided under the WTO, is a time-consuming process, the official said. The industries which are exerting pressure on the Government against imports include steel and edible oils.

“We are looking at the proposal of the Commerce Ministry. However, one needs to take into account the interests of both domestic manufacturers as well as consuming industry,” a Steel Ministry official said. – PTI