Industry Body Recommends Customs Reforms to Boost Manufacturing Ahead of Union Budget 2027-28
The PHD Chamber of Commerce suggests customs reforms to enhance Indias manufacturing competitiveness in a pre-budget meeting.
New Delhi, November 10 (Daily Kiran) : The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) participated in a pre-budget meeting on November 10, 2026, to discuss the upcoming Union Budget for 2027-28. The meeting, held by the Revenue Department of the Finance Ministry, focused on enhancing India’s global manufacturing competitiveness through suggested customs reforms.
In a press release, PHDCCI emphasized the need to rationalize customs duties on essential industrial raw materials and energy inputs. The goal is to reduce manufacturing costs, strengthen domestic value chains, improve energy security, and increase India’s competitiveness on the global stage.
Highlighting the impact of input costs across various sectors, PHDCCI identified five key recommendations. These include reducing the basic customs duty on LPG, heavy petroleum feedstock, and naphtha from 2.5% to zero, rationalizing customs duties on petroleum coke used in industrial manufacturing, and maintaining the current basic customs duty structure on steel scrap beyond March 2028.
The chamber noted that these changes would significantly affect several industries, including energy, fertilizers, steel, aluminum, petrochemicals, infrastructure, construction, textiles, and engineering.
India’s manufacturing competitiveness is closely tied to the availability, affordability, and quality of essential industrial inputs. Customs duties on critical raw materials and intermediate goods can have a substantial impact on production costs, investment decisions, and the competitiveness of related industries.
Dr. Ranjit Mehta, SG and CEO of PHDCCI, stated, “We believe that a streamlined customs framework focused on essential industrial inputs can enhance cost competitiveness across interconnected manufacturing value chains. Such measures can promote investment in domestic processing capabilities, make supply chains more resilient and robust, and contribute to achieving India’s broader goals of industrial growth, energy security, and increased domestic value addition.”
