The Finance Ministry has hiked import duty on both crude and refined vegetable oils to protect local farmers and refinery industry.

The basic customs duty has been hiked by 5 percentage points each, bringing the import duty on crude oils to 7.5% and that on refined oils to 15 per cent. Prior to this move, crude oils attracted import duty of 2.5% and refined oils attractted customs duty of 10%.

India had imported estimated 11.6 million tonnes of edible oil in 2013/14, higher than record 10.4 million tonnes imported in 2012/13. New Delhi is likely to import 13 miillion tonnes of edible oils this year that began from November.

About 60 per cent of India's annual edible oil demand of 18-19 million tonnes is met through imports. A significant portion of imports is palm oil sourced from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Source:thehindubusinessline.com