Government may remove LNG import duty

The Indian government could do away with the import duty on liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the upcoming Union Budget to be presented in July. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has made a strong case to reduce the duty from 2.5% to zero to promote green energy, reduce the cost of power generation, improve production of fertilisers and grow the city gas distribution network across urban geographies. Moreover, the domestic production of LNG is low and exports are on the rise. While power producers have already been exempted, from import duty, the same provision is not available to sectors like petrochemicals, fertiliser and liquefied petroleum gas.