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Lifting of QRs pulls down imports, may affect customs revenue

Contrary to industry's fears of a surge in imports due to lifting of quantitative restrictions, preliminary estimates indicate a drop in imports in the last two months that could impact on the customs revenue collections.

''Much contrary to the industry's fears of an import surge due to lifting of QRs, the situation has been surprisingly the reverse during the first two months of the current fiscal year, where imports have dipped albeit marginally," commerce ministry sources said.

''The uncertainty prevailing among the importing community about the future policy of the government could be one of the main reasons for the slump," sources said, adding that imports could pick up after June-July.

Clarifying the government's recent move to restrict entry of 300 sensitive items excluding edible oils to 11 entry points in the country, he said the whole exercise was only to improve and streamline data collection.

"The entry has not been restricted to curtail imports. The main idea behind the move is better data collection as it is extremely difficult to collect timely and accurate data from over 240 ports," the official said.

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