Paints industry

 

Manufacture of paint involves mixing of a wide variety of raw materials in various proportions. On an average raw materials account for 56% of the total expenditure in paint companies. Raw materials used can be broadly divided into three major groups - pigments (such as titanium dioxide, zinc oxide etc), solvent (such as mineral turpentine, ethyleneglycol), and resins & adhesives

 

Titanium dioxide is the vital pigment used in paints. Pigments and preparations containing 80% or more of titanium dioxide are also used in paints. In the Budget 2012,customs duty on titanium dioxide under CTH 2823 00 10 was reduced from 10% to 7.5% to bring at par with other inputs vide sl. no. 150 of customs notification 12/2012. However, customs duty on this has been again increased to 10% with effect from May 8, 2013. The concessional customs duty of 7.5% needs to be restored to create differential in duty between paints and this vital input. Titanium dioxide also falls under CTH 3206 as pigments and preparations based on titanium dioxide. This is evident from antidumping duty customs notification 85/2009 on titanium dioxide where in both CTH 2823 and 3206 are mentioned. Therefore, customs duty on pigments and preparations of titanium dioxide under CTH 3206 11 also needs to be reduced from 10% to 7.5%.

 

Recommendations for paints:

 

Reduce customs duty from 10% to 7.5% on titanium dioxide as well as pigments and preparations based on titanium dioxide.