India national Budget likely to scrap import duty on LNG
KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – The Indian government is considering scrapping an import duty on liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the forthcoming Budget to be presented before Parliament next month.
Government officials say that the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has made a strong pitch for reducing the current LNG import duty from 2.5% to nil, in line with the objective of promoting the green energy, lowering the cost of power generation, increasing fertiliser production and extending the city gas distribution network across urban geographies.
The officials say that the issue had already been discussed in the course of pre-Budget consultations with the Finance Ministry.
The national budget of 2017/18 lowered the LNG import duty from 5% to 2.5%, but considering low domestic production and rising imports, the Petroleum Ministry has argued for scrapping the levy altogether.
The government earlier exempted power producers from paying import duty, but large sectors, such as petrochemicals, fertiliser and liquefied petroleum gas, have been denied the exemption and the Ministry is now seeking a level playing field for all LNG users, the officials add.
The proposal to scrap the import duty is also a compulsion of lower domestic production, which increased by a margin 0.4% during 2017/18, while imports increased 12.6% during the financial year.
Lowering the cost of imported LNG will also enable the government to gradually lower its subsidy payment to fertiliser companies. The government currently reimburses the difference between higher costs of production and the lower administered retail price of fertiliser to producers.
India is the fourth-largest importer of LNG in the world, sourcing 57% from Qatar, 17% from Nigeria, 6% from the US and 6% each from Angola and Australia 6%.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Education: Consulting with member companies to obtain the optimal benefits from their B-BBEE spending, skills resources as well as B-BBEE points
VISIT SHOWROOM
AxFlow AQS Liquid Transfer (Pty) Ltd is an Importer and Distributor of Pumps in Southern Africa
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
