Overview
- The finance ministry cut basic customs duty on crude and refined sunflower, soybean and palm oils effective September 24, 2026, removing the 10% levy on crude sunflower and trimming duties on crude soybean and crude palm to 5% and on refined varieties by 5–10 percentage points.
- The Food Ministry issued an advisory directing edible-oil associations and firms to pass the full benefit to consumers by immediately revising price-to-distributor and maximum retail prices.
- The government kept a 19.25% duty gap between crude and refined oils to protect domestic refiners and said it will monitor markets and consider further action if needed.
- Industry groups expect refiners that delayed purchases to step up imports for the festival season, with sunflower oil seen as the biggest beneficiary and retail prices likely to ease gradually as lower landed costs filter through the supply chain.
- Because India imports roughly two-thirds of its vegetable oils, the duty cut will affect the import bill, could support international palm and soyoil futures, and may alter regional trade flows such as refined oil movement via Nepal.