The Government of India constituted an Expert Committee on 16 June 2014 mandated to examine issues related to rubber production, development, consumption and exports and suggest a National Policy on Rubber in the interest of both the growers as well as consumers. The Expert Committee consisted of experts and stakeholders of rubber industry including representatives of relevant Ministries and Departments of the Central Government, State Governments of Kerala and Tripura, Rubber Board, Associations of NR growers, Associations of rubber based industries including manufacturers of tyres, latex, block rubber, synthetic rubber and academic & research oriented institutions in the government and the non-governmental sector. The final draft of the Policy has been received from the Committee.

Import of NR has increased during the recent years. The main reasons for the increase in import are relatively low prices of NR, especially block rubber, in the world market; non-availability of the material in domestic market and irregular market arrivals. However, the Government has made following revisions in import policy of NR in order to protect growers:

• DGFT vide Public Notice No. 81 (RE-2013)/2009-2004 dated 9 January 2015 reduced the export obligation period to six months for NR from the date of clearance of each consignment under Advance Authorisation/DFIA Scheme.
• Basic customs duty on dry forms of NR was raised from “20% or ₹ 30 per kg whichever is lower” to “25% or ₹ 30 a kg whichever is lower” vide Customs Notification No. 28/2015 dated 30 April 2015.

This information was given by the Minister of State(Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

Import policy revision for natural rubber protects growers by raising customs duty and shortening export obligations period. The Government adopted targeted changes to protect domestic natural rubber growers by reducing the export obligation period under Advance Authorisation/DFIA schemes to six months from consignment clearance and increasing the basic customs duty on dry forms of natural rubber; measures aim to address increased imports driven by lower world prices, domestic shortages and irregular arrivals.