Directorate General of Trade Remedies
Also called: DGTR · Topic: International Trade Policy, WTO and Intellectual Property · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) is the Indian body that investigates unfair or harmful imports. It sits under the Commerce Ministry and was set up in 2018. It looks into three kinds of cases. Dumping means goods are sold to India below their normal value, usually their price in the exporter's home market. Subsidised imports are goods that a foreign government has supported with subsidies (government payments or benefits). An import surge is a sudden jump in imports, even of fairly traded goods. DGTR only recommends a duty: an anti-dumping duty, a countervailing duty or a safeguard duty. The Finance Ministry decides whether to impose it and then notifies it. India is among the world's heaviest users of anti-dumping duties, and most cases target China.
Example
In 2025 DGTR recommended a 12% provisional safeguard duty on steel imports. "Provisional" means temporary: such a duty can last up to 200 days. The recommendation followed a surge of imports that threatened serious injury to Indian steel makers. The duty took effect only after the Finance Ministry notified it.
Don't confuse with
- Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT): it also sits under the Commerce Ministry, but it runs the Foreign Trade Policy, export schemes and the SCOMET export-control list. It does not investigate dumping or recommend trade-remedy duties.