India Investigates Dumping Claims Against Five Chinese Products

New Delhi: India has started investigations into an alleged dumping of as many as five products, including engineering and chemical sector goods, from China, following complaints filed separately by domestic manufacturers.

These investigations are carried out by the commerce ministry's arm, the Directorate General for Trade Remedies (DGTR).

According to six separate notifications of the directorate, these products are – Persulphates (used in textiles industry); Clavulanic Acid (an active pharmaceutical ingredient); Certain Counterbalance Forklifts; Internally Grooved Copper Tubes and Pipes; and Caprolactam (used in fabrics).

In their applications, domestic players have alleged that the dumped imports of these products from China are impacting their businesses, and they have requested the imposition of anti-dumping duties on these imports.

"On the basis of the duly substantiated written application filed by or on behalf of the domestic industry, and having satisfied itself, on the basis of the prima facie evidence submitted by the applicant concerning the dumping...the Authority hereby initiates an anti-dumping investigation," one of the notifications said.

If it is established that these dumpings have caused material injury to the domestic players, the DGTR would recommend the imposition of duties on these imports.

The finance ministry takes the final decision to impose these duties.

US-China trade tensions and China's significant industrial overcapacity pose a major risk of cheap Chinese goods being dumped in India.

In the recent period, India has initiated multiple such probes against dumped imports of certain goods from China.

Anti-dumping probes are conducted by countries to determine if 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 Organisation (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 and China are members of the WTO.

India has already imposed anti-dumping duties on several products to tackle cheap imports from various countries, including China.

India's exports to China rose 36.66 per cent to USD 19.47 billion during the last fiscal year, while imports increased 16 per cent to USD 131.63 billion. The trade deficit swelled to an all-time high of USD 112.6 billion in 2025-26 as against USD 99.2 billion in 2024-25.