India needs an overhaul of its import tariff structure and customs administration to reduce trade costs, strengthen manufacturing competitiveness and revive export growth, think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) suggested. Equally important, tariff reform should be based on total import duty, not just headline basic customs duty. According to Ajay Srivastava, founder of GTRI, “India’s import tariffs have lost relevance as a revenue instrument while continuing to distort production decisions. Maintaining a complex tariff schedule for such limited fiscal return imposes high administrative and compliance costs, the report argued. To reduce disputes, the report recommended aligning India’s duty drawback system with the standard eight-digit HS codes already used for imports and exports.

Source: The Telegraph January 19, 2026 02:16 UTC