Budget 2019: What are the Countervailing Duties?

Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s first full-time female Finance Minister, will present the first budget of Narendra Modi-led government's second term on July 5.

Taking up the crucial Finance Ministry portfolio, Sitharaman has a big task at hand. In her new role, the former defence minister needs to address issues such as economic slowdown, unemployment rate which is at a 45-year high, severe agrarian crisis, NPAs marring the banking sector.

While all eyes will be on Budget 2019, it is imperative for people to know the key terms associated with the annual exercise.

Here’s a lowdown on some of the important terms to help understand the Budget.

Countervailing Duties:

When foreign producers import good at a much lesser price than the counterpart of the same good produced domestically, then government impose duties on such foreign goods based on the specifications of the World Trade Center. These duties are called as Countervailing Duties.
If imported goods are at a cheaper rate, then people start buying those compared to domestic goods. Thus the government does so to protect the demands of domestic goods.

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