Customs duty is not the barrier, GST is
The National Tariff Policy 2025-30 has remained in the news for the right reasons recently, and it is time to offer a provisional assessment in the light of recent data. The good news first: the policy is working. One of the underlying objectives of the policy was to stop treating customs tariff as a source of revenue and start treating it as a tool of industrial policy – to provide signals to industry and consumers. One year of experience indicates that the policy is succeeding, as the contribution of import-based revenue has come down from above 50% of overall tax revenue to less than 40%. This has happened despite an increase in import volume and customs revenue, while overall tariffs have gone down – exactly as the research had predicted.