India, Nov. 5 -- First, the country must rationalise the 8.25% import duty on primary aluminium. The duty reduction will reduce the cost disadvantage faced by domestic manufacturers, support greater value addition, strengthen the domestic manufacturing base, improve the competitiveness of MSMEs, and help boost exports of finished and semi-finished goods by the aluminium downstream industry.

Second, New Delhi must aggressively enforce WTO-compliant trade remedies and non-tariff barriers rather than relying on blunt tariff hikes. Instead of renegotiating slow-moving FTAs, the ministry of commerce should utilise Rules of Origin under CAROTAR. Strictly verifying that imports from ASEAN nations have undergone significant local processing (e.g...