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India has initiated an anti-dumping probe into the import of glass fibre from China, Thailand, Bahrain following a complaint by a domestic player. The duty is aimed at protecting the domestic industry from cheap imports. The commerce ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) is probing the alleged dumping of glass fibres and its articles originating in or exported from these countries.

Glass fibre or fibre glass is reinforced plastic that is strong, lightweight, flexible and can be moulded into many complex shapes. It has many industrial and domestic uses. Owens-Corning (India) has filed the application seeking initiation of an anti-dumping investigation on the imports. The applicant has alleged that material injury is being caused to the domestic industry due to the alleged dumped imports and has requested for the imposition of anti-dumping duties.

The DGTR in a notification has said that on the basis of the duly substantiated written application submitted by the applicant and having reached satisfaction based on the prima facie evidence submitted by the applicant concerning the dumping of the product. The Authority, hereby, initiates an anti-dumping investigation. If it is established that the dumping has caused material injury to domestic players, the DGTR would recommend the imposition of anti-dumping duty on these imports. The finance ministry takes the final decision to impose duties.

Anti-dumping probes are conducted by countries to determine whether domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a countermeasure, they impose these duties under the multilateral regime of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO). The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters. India has already imposed anti-dumping duty on several products to tackle cheap imports from various countries, including China.