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India has imposed anti-dumping duty of up to $986 per tonne for five years on a chemical, used for water treatment, imported from China and Japan to protect the domestic industry from cheap inbound shipments. The decision follows recommendations from the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), an investigation arm of the commerce ministry, to impose the duty on 'Trichloro isocyanuric acid'.

In its recommendations, the directorate has stated that the domestic industry has suffered material injury due to the dumped imports in India from China and Japan. The anti-dumping duty imposed shall be levied for a period of five years (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier). Both the countries are key trading partners of India. While DGTR conducts the alleged dumping probe and recommends the duty, the finance ministry takes the final decision to impose the same within three months of the recommendation.

Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to check if their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in below-cost imports. As a countermeasure, they impose duties within the multilateral regime of the WTO (World Trade Organisation). Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry. It is not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in the cost of products.