India’s Rubber Board proposes fee for imported rubber

Kottayam, India – India’s Rubber Board proposes to charge a fee for issuing the required No Objection Certificate (NOC) to import natural rubber (NR). The recommendation of the Rubber Board in this regard is under the consideration of the Central Government. The Board proposes to charge Rs.5000/- for each consignment. The NOC has been introduced to control the import of low-quality materials of NR variants that are available at cheaper rates into the domestic market. The levying of fees for the issue of certificates will increase the efficiency of the procedure of quality checking. Ultimately, it is expected to improve the domestic market.

In 2001, the Central Government lifted quantitative restrictions on the import of NR and brought up NOC from the Rubber Board as an import condition for conforming quality as specified by the Bureau of Indian Standards. The new recommendation of the Board to impose fees for NOCs for imported rubber is in continuation with the government’s attempts to restrict the import of low-quality NR variants. At present, after checking the quality of rubber coming from other countries, the certificate is issued without charging a fee. In the meantime, many other agencies in the country issue certificates for importing non-rubber products by charging a fee.

In 2023-24, the country witnessed a significant increase in rubber imports, with a total of 492682 metric tons. This surge in demand, which saw an estimated 310413 metric tons imported from April to September alone, surpassing the 254488 metric tons imported during the same period last year, underscores the importance of maintaining strict quality control measures.