Union Government has hiked Customs duty on bamboo imports by agarbatti manufacturers from 10 per cent to 25 per cent with immediate effect. Finance Ministry has said that the decision has been taken to encourage use of domestic bamboo under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat scheme. The 25 per cent customs duty rate shall now uniformly apply to any import of bamboo, including by traders.
Government said, uniform rate will help in avoiding misuse and rate-related disputes. This measure is seen to benefit farmers and MSME agarbatti manufacturers. Earlier, the gains were utilized by only the large agarbatti manufacturers as they were able to import bamboo at lower rate.
