Custom Duty- Overview

This functionality is specific for India.

The Central board of excise and customs and central government regulate the custom duties.

The objectives of the custom duties are the following:

  • Raise revenue for the central government.
  • Regulate imports and exports.
  • Protect Indian industries from foreign products.
Kinds of custom duties

The kinds of custom duties are the following :

  • Basic custom duty
    This duty is levied on all taxable goods. The rate differs for each item. Generally, the rate on non-agricultural goods is 12.5 per cent.
  • Countervailing duty or additional customs duty (CVD)
    This duty is levied on goods of special importance. The rate is 16.32 per cent inclusive of educational cess(2 per cent).
  • Education cess
    This duty is calculated on all the taxes, to generate revenues for the basic education. The rate is 2 per cent.
Heavy custom duty

This duty is levied on machinery imported for projects. Concessions are made on the basic custom duty, based on the project type .

The tax percentages levied on various projects are the following:

  1. For project imports, the rate is 12.5 per cent.
  2. For fertilizers, coal mining and power generation projects the rate is 5 per cent.
Note

Taxes are not levied on the industrial and agricultural based mega power projects and water supply projects .