New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) There will be almost no change in the tariffs on imported coal on account of proposed Agriculture Infrastructure Development cess levied by the government on items like coal and lignite, as per industry experts.

In her budget speech finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that basic customs duty (BCD) rates have been reduced on items such as coal lignite and peat with the imposition of Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess on these so that overall the consumer does not bear additional burden on most of the items.

"Infra Dev Cess in place of a reduction in basic custom duty of coal will ensure that there is no net change on the tariffs applicable on imported coal," Niladri Bhattacharjee, Partner -Metals & Mining, KPMG said.

According to Jayanta Roy, Senior Vice President and Head, Corporate Sector Ratings, ICRA, Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) of 1.5 per cent has been imposed on coal importers to finance the improvement of agriculture infrastructure in India.

At the same time, the basic customs duty has been reduced by the same extent to one per cent. Therefore coal importers are unlikely to face higher duty on their coal imports.

He also said that the consumers depending on such a variety of imported coal will not be affected.

The Finance Minister said that there is an immediate need to improve agricultural infrastructure "so that we produce more, while also conserving and processing agricultural output efficiently. This will ensure enhanced remuneration for our farmers.

To earmark resources for this purpose, I propose an Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on a small number of items. However, while applying this cess, we have taken care not to put additional burden on consumers on most items."

The finance minister during the press conference said that Agri Infra Cess will not result in price increase for end users and added that higher cess is adjusted with lower customs duty.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)