India Halves Import Duty on LNG

In a move which is in sync with its aim to increase the share of gas in the overall energy mix, the Indian government February 1 halved the basic customs duty on LNG from 5% to 2.5%. The decision was announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley in his federal budget for fiscal 2017-18 (April-March).

Major gas player Gail India welcomed the move, saying in a tweet that the finance ministry’s announcement to reduce LNG custom duty is a welcome step to boost the gas-based economy and encourage the use of cleaner fuel.

Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan has on many occasions said that India is moving towards becoming a gas based economy and the government is working aggressively to increase the share of gas in the country’s energy basket from the present 6.5%.

Attractive global prices have boosted India's LNG imports this fiscal year. For the April-December period, India’s LNG imports were up by a fifth on the year before at 18.75bn m³ (when regasified), according to government data.

Shardul Sharma