Commerce ministry raises anti-dumping duty rejection issue at 'highest level'
New Delhi, Jun 10, 2026
Synopsis
The Commerce Ministry is escalating concerns about the Finance Ministry's increasing rejection of anti-dumping duty recommendations. This trend impacts domestic industries, reducing capacity and investment. The Directorate General of Trade Remedies' proposals are vital for fair trade. Non-implementation leads to significant economic losses and reduced foreign exchange earnings.
The commerce ministry has taken up with the "highest level" the issue of a rising number of rejections by the Finance Ministry of recommendations made by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) for the imposition of anti-dumping duties, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
DGTR is an arm of the ministry which takes steps to protect domestic industries from unfair trade practices.
It conducts anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard investigations and recommends appropriate measures to the government in accordance with domestic laws and India's obligations under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) framework.
The finance ministry takes the final call to impose these duties.
According to a report, while India historically implemented nearly 99.5 per cent of the recommendations until 2020, rejection and non-implementation rates have risen sharply.
The rejection ratio has increased to 81 per cent during November 2025-April 2026 from 16 per cent during April-November 2025.
According to the C-DEP Research and Centre for WTO Studies report - Impact of Anti-Dumping Duties in India, non-implementation of anti-dumping duties reduces domestic capacity utilisation, thereby significantly dampening committed and new investments, leading to weakening of long-term industrial resilience and increasing the supply-demand gap in the economy.
When asked about the reasons for these rejections by the finance ministry, the official said, "We are having a lot of conversations (on the issue). They usually do not give the reasons. We try to provide more and more inputs to them".
"It (the issue) is being taken up at the highest-level," the official said.
The report has also stated that non-implementation of the recommended anti-dumping duties has resulted in an annual economic loss of Rs 11,938 crore to the domestic industry, whereas the imposition of these levies could generate an additional Rs 28,540 crore annually in forex by reducing imports.
[The Economic Times]
