Virtually rejecting
demand
for
of the 10 per cent
customs
duty
on
,
Finance
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
on Monday said the
duty was imposed to promote domestic manufacturers and the
importers will have to pay tax
on the shipment.
Newspaper industry had earlier made a representation to the
finance
minister
for
rollback
of the Budget's announcement
of
customs
duty imposition
on imported
newsprint, arguing the move will put pressure
on the bottomline.
There was no import
duty
on
newsprint so far.
The intention
of the government was to make sure that Indian manufacturers
of
newsprint are promoted as they were suffering due to cheaper import, she said at an event here.
When pointed out that domestic industry is unable to meet the
demand
of newpapers, she said it is because 50 per cent
of the domestic manufacturer is underutilised.
The government has no problem in the importing but the industry will have to pay 10 per cent
duty, she said.
Last month, the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) had urged the government to withdraw the 10 per cent
customs
duty imposed
on
newsprint, the uncoated paper used
for printing
of newspapers, and lightweight coated papers used
for magazines.
"Publishers
of newspapers and magazines are already reeling under severe financial pressure due to many factors like lower advertisement revenues, higher costs and digital onslaught from technological giants. Small and medium newspapers will go into deeper losses and many
of them will be forced to close down," it had said.
India's
newsprint consumption is around 2.5 million tonnes per annum, while the domestic industry's manufacturing capacity is only 1 million tonnes. Also, there are no domestic manufacturers
of uncoated and lightweight coated paper.