NEW DELHI : India’s trade remedies directorate has recommended the use of safeguard measures for two years on a key ingredient used in making hand sanitisers and cosmetics to check imports if they go past a specified level — marking the first time that quantitative restriction has been proposed.
In its recommendations to the government, the Director General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) noted that there has been a surge in imports, which was undercutting domestic prices.
“The domestic industry has suffered serious injury, as established by significant deterioration in its overall performance, in respect of parameters such as market share, production, sales, capacity utilisation, and profitability, which have sharply declined in the most recent period,” it said, adding that the increase was due to unforeseen situation.
While acknowledging the increase was partly driven by the demand for hand sanitisers during Covid, DGTR said that the proposed action on isopropyl alcohol could be put on hold by the government in case the pandemic flared up.
