NEW DELHI: India on Friday banned the import of petcoke for use as fuel, but allowed import of the product by some industries, which will use it as feedstock. “Import of petcoke for fuel purpose is prohibited. It is allowed only for cement, lime kiln, calcium carbide and gasification industries, when used as the feedstock or in the manufacturing process on actual user condition,” said a statement from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on Friday. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in consultation with customs and DGFT, will bring out detailed guidelines for regulating and monitoring petcoke imports. The move is expected to bring cheers to India’s cement industry as it accounts for about three-fourth of the country’s petcoke use.
Various flip-flops in petcoke policy by the Centre in recent times had impacted the profitability of cement-makers. Post the DGFT announcement, shares of cement companies such as Ultratech Cement Ltd, Shree Cement Ltd, Ambuja Cements and ACC Ltd has moved upwards. Ultratech Cement, whose net profit slumped nearly 30 per cent in the first quarter of the current financial year due to high petcoke prices, saw its stocks going up by 1.64 per cent on Friday. Share prices of Shree Cement, one of the significant users of petcoke in the country, went up by 3.21 per cent and closed at `17,550.
Earlier, the government had considered a nationwide ban on petcoke usage by various industries. This was after multiple reports had found that petcoke-burning produces five to six times more pollution than its alternative, coal. India imports about half of its annual petcoke consumption — pegged at around 27 million tonnes — mainly from the United States, while the domestic consumption is met by Indian Oil Corporation, Reliance Industries and Bharat Petroleum Corporation.