The anti-dumping wing of the Commerce and Industry Ministry, Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), is weighing provisional legal measures aimed at a quicker response to industries’ concerns over dumping of goods from various countries, a senior government official said.
Amid a comprehensive revamp of quality control orders (QCOs) that have resulted in rollbacks of standards on over 20 products, which could rise to 208 products if Niti Aayog’s suggestions are implemented, imports are likely to increase. This comes at a time when US tariffs globally are reshaping trade flows, particularly impacting Chinese goods. While China’s exports to the US have dipped, exports to other countries, including India, are on the rise.
“We are strengthening our DGTR framework to see that we can respond to industry’s concerns over dumping in a time-bound and faster manner. A time frame has been set internally to complete investigations swiftly. We are looking at provisional measures required in any case where there is clear evidence of an injury to the domestic industry. These are legal provisions that other countries are also using,” the official said.
According to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), dumping is when a country exports a product at a price lower than its “normal value,” which is usually the domestic price or below the cost of production. Dumping itself is not illegal, but the WTO allows importing countries to take action against it if it causes material injury to their domestic industries. These actions are known as anti-dumping measures and are governed by the WTO’s Anti-Dumping Agreement.
QCO rollbacks feared to push imports higher
Former trade officer and head of think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), Ajay Srivastava, said that as QCOs are rolled back, India must closely monitor import trends—daily if required—to ensure the absence of quality rules does not trigger a surge of dumped or sub-standard materials.
“For polymers, fibres, metals and intermediates where QCOs have been withdrawn, global suppliers may attempt to offload excess inventory at predatory prices. Continuous surveillance of customs data, DGTR alerts, and landed price patterns will help the government act swiftly through anti-dumping, safeguard or tariff-rate measures if unfair trade practices emerge. This approach preserves the benefits of the QCO rollback—lower costs, smoother supply chains—while protecting domestic industry from injury caused by dumped imports,” Srivastava said.
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Amid trade shock due to US tariffs, India’s overall exports in October registered a 12 per cent decline. At the same time, imports surged to a record $76 billion. While the surge was primarily led by a 200 per cent surge in gold import bill, non-oil and non-gold imports have also gone up by 12 per cent, official data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Monday showed.
Imports at record high
In the absence of a trade deal with the US, the risk of a further decline in exports and a surge in imports could put further pressure on the trade deficit, which also surged to its highest at $41 billion in October. In what could increase the import bill further, Indian public sector refiners on Monday signed a one-year deal for American liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports. However, the government expects a range of measures, from a loan moratorium to the Export Promotion Mission (EPM), to help export growth.
A working paper released by the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) in September this year had said that imports fell by 13 per cent in the year after a QCO notification and by 24 per cent over the long term, indicating the impact of a sharp rise in QCOs during the last three years.
“Intermediate goods face the steepest decline. QCOs lead to a 16 per cent reduction in imports in the year of notification, a 17.5 per cent decline in the subsequent year, and a 30 per cent fall over the long term. Overall, QCOs suppress imports — especially of intermediate inputs critical to domestic production — without improving export performance, challenging their efficacy in boosting competitiveness,” the CSEP report said.
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The surge in the use of these orders has had a substantial impact on supply chains. Between 2016 and 2025, the number of products brought under mandatory QCO coverage grew from fewer than 70 to nearly 790, including one Omnibus Technical Requirement (OTR) that covers 20 products. The implementation of QCOs restricts the import, manufacturing, distribution or sale of products covered under the orders without a Standard Mark, except under a valid licence from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
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