NEW DELHI, June 21 (Xinhua) -- India has decided to hike customs duty on around 29 goods imported from the United States, including Bengal gram, lentils, artemia (shrimp) etc., in retaliation to U.S.' recent decision to hike duty on steel and aluminium products which had tariff implication to the extent of 241 million U.S. dollars on India, said a notification issued by the country's finance ministry Wednesday.
The move assumes significance in the wake of similar steps being announced by China and the European Union.
The decision was taken in "public interest", said the notification, and added that the increased import duty tariffs would come into effect from Aug. 4.
The import duty on chickpeas and Bengal gram has been increased to 60 percent, while that on lentils has been hiked to 30 percent. Similarly, the duty on boric acid and binders for foundry moulds' has been hiked to 7.5 percent, while that on domestic reagents was raised to 10 percent.
Duty on artemia has been hiked to 15 percent.
The other products on which duties have been hiked include certain kind of nuts, iron and steel products, apples, pears, flat rolled products of stainless steel, other alloy steel, tube and pipe fittings, and screws, bolts and rivets, said a report by the "Press Trust of India" on Thursday.
However, there was no duty hike on motorcycles imported from the U.S., added the PTI report.
On June 14, India had submitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) a revised list of 30 items on which it proposed to raise customs duties by up to 50 percent. The duty hike by India would have an equivalent tariff implications for the U.S.
