India has initiated an anti-dumping probe against imports of a certain type of tiles, used for covering the floors in residential and commercial buildings, from China, Taiwan and Vietnam following a complaint by domestic players.

The commerce ministry’s investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) is probing the alleged dumping of “Vinyl Tiles other than in roll or sheet form”.

Welspun India Ltd, Welspun Flooring Ltd and Welspun Global Brands Ltd had filed a petition before the directorate to impose anti-dumping duty on the imports from China, Taiwan and Vietnam, according to a notification of the DGTR.

The applicants, it said, have alleged that the dumping of the product is materially affecting the domestic industry which started commercial production in September 2019.

They have submitted that the industry and the product are at a nascent stage.

The directorate said “on the basis of the duly substantiated written application by or on behalf of the domestic industry, and having satisfied itself, on the basis of the prima facie evidence submitted by the industry about the dumping…the authority hereby initiates an investigation.”

If it is established that the dumping has caused material injury to the domestic players, the DGTR would recommend the imposition of anti-dumping duty on these imports. The finance ministry takes the final decision to impose the duties.

Countries start anti-dumping probes to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports.

As a countermeasure, they impose these duties under the multilateral regime of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO). The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters.

India has already imposed anti-dumping duty on several products to tackle cheap imports from various countries, including China.