Master Stroke: Import duty hiked on 19 items

A range of imported products including air conditioners, household refrigerators, washing machines and radial car tyres will get costlier with the government on Wednesday hiking the basic customs duty in a bid to curb the import of non-essential items to check the burgeoning current account deficit.

A notification that will be effective from the midnight of Wednesday was issued by the Revenue Department hiking the import duty on 19 items whose total value of import in 2017-18 was about Rs 86,000 crore.