Pet Coke: DGFT Issues Notification for RPC and CPC Import

DGFT (Director General of Foreign Trade), Department of Commerce under Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India has issued notification dated 17th Apr’20 inviting applications for allocations of CPC (Calcined Petroleum Coke) of 0.5 million tonnes (MnT) for aluminium Industries and RPC (Raw Petroleum Coke) of 1.4 MnT for CPC manufacturing industries.

The notification is in pursuance to the Hon’ble Supreme Court order dated 9th Oct’18. In light of the order, the import policy condition of pet coke was amended as per guidelines of Ministry of Environment and Climate Change issued on 10th Sep’18.

The conditions and modalities are briefed as follows:

1. The quantity permitted for import of (i) CPC for use in aluminium industries is 0.5 MnT and (ii) RPC for CPC manufacturing industries is 1.4 MnT. This is available for all industrial units in these two sectors.
2. The annual quantity limitation will be operated on fiscal year basis (from 1st Apr’20 to 31st Mar’21).
3. All applicants may apply along with SPCB (State Pollution Control Board)/ PCC (Pollution Control Committee) indicating capacity as on 9th Oct’18 and also with valid consent certificate from SPCB/PCC.
4. Completed application form and the above documents along with requisite fee as per Aayat Nirayat Form must be submitted online on or before 5th May’20.
5. EXIM Facilitation Committee (EFC) for import of restricted item will consider the applications and the concerned RA (Regional Authorities) will grant authorization. EFC will allot the quota and licences will be issued by concerned RAs.
6. If, after obtaining permission/license, importer cannot utilize the entire quantity, the applicant shall intimate the same to DGFT by 31st Dec’20 for re-allocations. All imports have to be completed by 31st Mar’21,.ie. consignment must be cleared by customs before this date.

Notably, the conversion factor considered by DGFT for input and output ratio during the earlier allocation was CPC: RPC as 1:1.36.

For CPC import major aluminium industries like last year, HINDALC, NALCO and Vedanta are expected to apply for the requirement.

For RPC, major prospective calciners are RAIN CII, Sanvira, Goa Carbon, India Carbon, PCC, Maniyar Group and others. Last year, RAIN CII and Sanvira tried to increase their allocation due to their expansion, but Hon’ble SC turned the same down and the upper limit of allocated quantity remained at 1.4 MnT. But with surrendering the allocation by some applicants, they got some additional allocation.