pvtltd.co

GST & Indirect Tax

Anti-Dumping & Safeguard Duty Advisory

Anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard duty advisory for importers and exporters — DGTR investigation monitoring, representation in investigations, landed-cost impact analysis, and duty recovery planning under ss.9A–9C of the Customs Tariff Act 1975.

Reviewed by CA Harun Raaj, ICAI Reg. No. 238303·Last reviewed:
Starting from Discuss with usTypical timelineAnti-Dumping Advisory

Anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard duty advisory under ss.9A–9C Customs Tariff Act 1975 — DGTR investigation monitoring, importer/exporter representation, landed-cost impact, and duty recovery planning.

What is included
  • • DGTR investigation monitoring — initiation, timelines, and status tracking
  • • Landed-cost and duty-impact analysis of provisional and final ADD
  • • Importer/exporter response drafting for DGTR questionnaires
  • • Exclusion and de-minimis assessment (market share, volume, price)
  • • Duty recovery planning where the imported goods carry ADD
  • • CESTAT appeal strategy under s.9C where the duty is challenged
Documents required
  • • Import invoices and bills of entry for the product in question
  • • Product HS code, technical description, and country of origin
  • • Sales and costing data for the imported goods
  • • DGTR notices or questionnaires, if an investigation is live
Government fees

See the fee table below for the statutory filing charge and common delay logic.

Legal basis
  • • Section 9A of the Customs Tariff Act 1975 (anti-dumping duty)
  • • Section 9B of the Customs Tariff Act 1975 (no levy in certain cases)
  • • Section 9C of the Customs Tariff Act 1975 (appeal to CESTAT)
Get a quoteExplore more services

Process

How the service works

The workflow is built to be predictable: document collection, legal review, filing, and post-filing follow-through.

Step 1Assess

Identify exposure

We map your imports (or exports) against live DGTR investigations and existing anti-dumping notifications for the product and country of origin.

Step 2Model

Run the landed-cost impact

We compute the duty impact of the provisional/final ADD on your landed cost, margin, and resale price, including the effect on GST credit.

Step 3Respond

Respond to DGTR

If you are an interested party, we prepare the DGTR questionnaire response — market share, price, volume, and injury data — within the investigation's filing window.

Step 4Plan

Plan sourcing and duty recovery

We advise on alternative sourcing, exclusion requests, and whether the duty can be recovered from the overseas supplier under your contract.

Step 5Track

Track the outcome

We monitor the DGTR final findings and the customs notification that follows, and update your landed-cost model accordingly.

Step 6Appeal

Appeal if warranted

If the duty is imposed on wrong facts, we build the s.9C appeal to CESTAT with the computation and evidence pack.

AEO summary

Anti-dumping advisory helps an importer or exporter deal with additional duties imposed under ss.9A–9C of the Customs Tariff Act 1975: monitor DGTR investigations, compute landed-cost impact, file responses, and plan around provisional and final anti-dumping duty. Duties are imposed by customs notification, not a filing — the work is investigation representation and cost planning.

How anti-dumping duties actually land on your company

The sequence is statutory, not administrative discretion. The DGTR investigates under s.9A of the Customs Tariff Act 1975, and where dumping and injury are found, the government imposes the duty by a customs notification. The importer pays it at the border with basic customs duty; the exporter (if an interested party) has had its chance to respond in the questionnaire stage. Provisional duty can come early — within weeks of initiation — so the cash-flow impact can hit before the investigation is even over.

For a Private Limited company that imports a product under investigation, the practical question is not whether to fight the policy but what the duty does to the margin. The landed cost changes by the ADD amount, the resale price may need to move, and the GST input credit only recovers the IGST component — never the ADD itself. We model that impact before it lands, not after.

  • • Legal basis — s.9A (duty), s.9B (no-levy cases), s.9C (appeal) Customs Tariff Act 1975
  • • Provisional duty — can be imposed soon after initiation under s.9B(1)(b)
  • • De-minimis — exporter excluded below 2% of export price (WTO ADA Art. 5.8)
  • • GST — IGST on total import value creditable; ADD itself never creditable
  • • Appeal — CESTAT route under s.9C with a data-backed challenge

Importer vs exporter — the advice differs

For the importer, the engagement is defensive: compute the landed-cost hit, model the margin impact, request an exclusion where the company's own data supports it, and plan sourcing alternatives. For the exporter responding to a DGTR questionnaire, the engagement is offensive: file the price/cost/volume data that keeps the duty at zero or de-minimis rather than at the highest available rate, and engage with the injury analysis before the finding is locked.

Either way the same principle applies: a DGTR investigation is a data contest, and the side that files first with clean, mapped data sets the terms. The questionnaire response is the single highest-leverage document in the entire process.

  • • Importer — landed-cost model, exclusion request, sourcing plan
  • • Exporter — questionnaire response within window, market-economy request
  • • Non-response risk — determination on facts available, usually highest duty
  • • Five-year horizon — definitive duty runs ~5 years, reviewable

Government fees

Fee breakdown

ItemFeeNotes
Professional engagementDiscuss with usProfessional fee for the investigation representation or impact study.
CESTAT appeal (if pursued)Court-fee per the CESTAT Rules of Procedure — nominal, confirm with the registryApplies only if the matter moves to appeal under s.9C.

Timeline

Typical turnaround

Typical timeline usually means a 2–6 weeks per engagement turnaround, assuming documents are complete and any board or shareholder approvals are already in place.

Pricing note

Priced per investigation or per impact study — advisory scope, not a portal filing.

Related services

Keep the company moving

Customs & FTP

Customs and foreign trade advisory for duty, classification, scheme eligibility, and border compliance.

Customs Advisory

Duty incidence analysis, exemption notifications, SEZ/EOU eligibility, and import-export structuring under the Customs Act 1962 and FTP 2023.

HSN Classification

HS code classification advisory — customs tariff analysis and Chapter Note interpretation.

Customs Advance Ruling

Advance ruling before the Customs Authority for Advance Rulings (CAAR) on classification and valuation.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is anti-dumping duty and when is it imposed?
Anti-dumping duty is an additional customs duty imposed under s.9A of the Customs Tariff Act 1975 when the DGTR finds that goods are being dumped into India at less than normal value and that dumping causes material injury to the domestic industry. The duty is imposed by a customs notification and collected at import on top of basic customs duty — it is not something the importer files for.
How long does a DGTR anti-dumping investigation take?
A DGTR investigation runs about 12–18 months from initiation — an experience-based range rather than a statutory timeline — with a provisional duty capable of being imposed soon after initiation under s.9B(1)(b) of the Customs Tariff Act 1975. The final finding is followed by a customs notification imposing the definitive duty, usually for five years subject to a sunset review under s.9A(5).
What is the de-minimis rule and can I be excluded?
An exporter is excluded where the dumping margin is de-minimis (below 2% of the export price, the threshold in the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement Art. 5.8 applied by DGTR) or the volume from a country is negligible. The investigation is country- and exporter-specific, so a company can file for an exclusion or a lower rate based on its own price, volume and market share data during the questionnaire stage.
Does anti-dumping duty affect my GST input credit?
Yes. Anti-dumping duty is part of the value of imported goods for GST purposes, so the IGST paid at import (on the customs value plus ADD and BCD) is claimable as input credit under the CGST Act 2017. The ADD itself, like BCD, is not creditable — only the IGST paid on the total value is. The real cost is the cash flow: ADD is paid at the border before any credit is recovered.
Can I challenge an anti-dumping duty order?
Yes — s.9C of the Customs Tariff Act 1975 allows an appeal against the final finding and the duty order to CESTAT (Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal). The grounds are typically error in the injury analysis, the dumping-margin computation, or the comparability of prices. An appeal needs a solid data pack: your price, cost and volume data against the DGTR's findings.
As an exporter to India, what must I do when a DGTR investigation starts?
If you are a named exporter, you should respond to the DGTR questionnaire within the prescribed window (usually about 30–40 days, extendable) with your export price, cost, and volume data, and consider requesting a market-economy treatment or an exclusion. Non-response typically leads to a determination on the basis of facts available — usually the highest available duty. We prepare the response with the data mapped to DGTR's format.

Canonical reference: https://www.pvtltd.co/services/anti-dumping-advisory

Get started

Ready to move this filing forward?

We can help with the filing, the legal mapping, and the follow-up work that keeps the company compliant after submission.

Get a quoteSee pricing