March 12: The Industry and Commerce, Labour and Consumer Interest Committee under the House of Representatives has formed a sub-committee to carry out a study the customs and excise duties on sponge iron and billet, the state-owned RSS reported.

The government had introduced zero tariff on import of sponge iron and significantly increased the excise duty on import of billet through the replacement bill in September 2021, drawing widespread controversy.

The government argued that it adopted this new policy with the aim of protecting domestic industries and promoting the establishment of billet plants in the country. However, industrialists argued that the policy was introduced without any prior discussions and was aimed to discourage existing industries.

In order to study the disputed issue, the parliamentary committee on Tuesday formed the seven-member sub-committee on Tuesday.    

The members of the sub-committee are Krishna Kumar Shrestha, Ganesh Parajuli, Geeta Basnet, Dhurba Thapa, Rekha Yadav, Lakshmi Mahato Koiri and Suryaman Tamang.    

Meanwhile, the meeting of the committee also instructed concerned authorities to provide details of tobacco and production of tobacco products in Nepal and details of annual imports.