Govt slaps dumping duty on 'USB flash drives' from China, Taiwan

The finance ministry on the recommendations of the commerce ministry has imposed a definitive anti-dumping duty on 'USB flash drives' imported from China and Taiwan.

For 'USB flash drives' imported from China, the revenue department has imposed an anti-dumping duty of $3.12 per unit.

In the case of pen drives imported from Taiwan, the anti-dumping duty has been pegged at $3.06 per unit.

The anti-dumping duty will be valid for a period of five years.

This duty impost comes five months after the designated authority in the commerce ministry recommended imposition of anti-dumping duty on 'USB flash drive' imports from China and Taiwan.

The designated authority in its final findings published in the Gazette of India had concluded that USB flash drives originating in or exported from the People's Republic of China and Chinese Taipei and imported into India have been exported to India below their normal value, thus resulting in dumping of the product.

The domestic industry has suffered material injury due to dumping of the subject goods and it has been established that the material injury has been caused by the dumped imports of the subject goods originating in or exported from these subject countries.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said on the recommendation of the designated authority it has been decided to impose a definitive anti-dumping duty on the imports of these goods, originating in or exported from the subject countries and imported into India, in order to remove injury to the domestic industry.

'USB flash drives' are data storage devices which use flash memory and USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface to interact with computers and other multimedia devices for data exchange.

They are popularly known in the market as pen drives. They are also available as keychain drives, key drives, USB sticks, flash sticks, memory keys and USB keys.

Storage Media Products Manufacturers & Marketers Welfare Association had filed the application on behalf of the domestic producers represented by Moser Baer India Ltd.

Moser Baer India is the sole producer of 'USB flash drives' in India.