Earlier on April 6, the government hiked import duty on 11 farm products, just a week after the removal of quantitative restrictions (QRs) on 714 items. These 11 farm products included rice-in-husk, husked brown rice, broken rice, semi-milled or wholly milled rice, maize, sorghum, spelt, millet, fresh grapes, apple and preparation for infant use in retail packs.The decision to hike import duty on pultry, meat and their preparation is taken to protect the domestic industry against the cheap imports. The customs duty on these products has been raised considerably within the bound tariff rate allowed under WTO negotiations.

In the current summer season when the meat and poultry products have become cheaper in the northern hemisphere, imports of these products have started trickling into the country.

While increasing the custom duty on these products, the government has carefully weighed the consequences of such measures on the domestic price front.

It has already come to the conclusion that with the current level of production of these items in the country, there will be no adverse effect on the domestic price front. The price of eggs has fallen from Rs 174 per 100 in January to Rs 85 per 100 in April and is slated for further decline.