Quick answer
Marg Tax Advisors LLP is an anti-dumping lawyer and anti-dumping duty consultant in India, representing domestic industry petitioners, foreign exporters and Indian importers through DGTR investigations and on appeal to CESTAT under Section 9C of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. Because an anti-dumping outcome turns on the dumping margin and injury margin as much as on the legal argument, and India applies the lesser duty rule, every file is run by a lawyer and a chartered accountant together. The practice is led from Noida, Delhi NCR by the Chairman of the International Trade Law Committee of the Indian Industries Association.
Marg Tax Advisors LLP acts as anti-dumping lawyers in India, and as anti-dumping duty consultants on the same file, for domestic industry petitioners, foreign exporters responding to an investigation, and importers or user industries affected by a duty, before the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) and, where a matter is appealed, the Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT).
An anti-dumping matter is both a legal proceeding and a numbers exercise, since the outcome turns on how the dumping margin and injury margin are calculated as much as on the legal arguments raised. That is why we run every matter with a lawyer and a chartered accountant on the same file rather than treating the two as separate engagements.
What Our Anti-Dumping Lawyer and Duty Consultant Team Handles
- Petitions to DGTR on behalf of domestic industry seeking an anti-dumping investigation.
- Representation for foreign exporters and Indian importers responding to a DGTR questionnaire once an investigation is initiated.
- Dumping margin and injury margin analysis, including the lesser duty rule that governs how much duty is actually imposed.
- Sunset review applications and defence as an existing anti-dumping duty approaches the end of its term.
- New shipper reviews for an exporter that was not part of the original investigation.
- Appeals against a DGTR finding or a customs notification imposing duty, before CESTAT under Section 9C of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975.
Anti-Dumping Investigation Lawyer India: How a DGTR Investigation Runs
An investigation begins with a petition from domestic industry, or occasionally suo motu by DGTR itself, establishing dumping, injury to domestic industry, and a causal link between the two. Once DGTR initiates an investigation, it issues questionnaires to known exporters, importers and domestic producers, examines the responses, and can impose a provisional duty before reaching a final determination, typically disclosing its essential facts to interested parties before the final finding is issued.
- Petition and initiationDomestic industry files, or DGTR acts suo motu, and the notice of initiation sets the scope of the product under investigation.
- Questionnaire responseExporters, importers and domestic producers answer DGTR's questionnaire within the prescribed deadline.
- VerificationDGTR checks the reported data against books, costing records and export documentation on site.
- Provisional dutyA provisional measure can be recommended before the final determination where the record supports it.
- Disclosure statementDGTR discloses its essential facts, and interested parties file a rejoinder before the finding is issued.
- Final finding and notificationThe finding is issued and, where duty is recommended, given effect through a customs notification.
As an anti-dumping investigation lawyer in India, Marg Tax Advisors represents whichever side of the investigation a client sits on, since the questionnaire response, the hearing submissions and the legal arguments all depend on whether the client is defending against a finding of dumping or trying to establish one.
Go deeper on a specific stage
- The exporter and importer response process is covered in full on our How to Respond to an Anti-Dumping Investigation in India page.
- What representation before DGTR involves in practice, stage by stage, is set out on our DGTR Representation Consultant page.
Anti-Dumping Duty Consultant India: Duty Calculation and the Lesser Duty Rule
Once a finding is made, India applies the lesser duty rule: the anti-dumping duty actually imposed is the lower of the dumping margin and the injury margin, not automatically the full dumping margin calculated. Getting this calculation right, on either side of a case, depends on export price, normal value and cost data that is often disputed in the investigation itself, which is why the duty consultant side of this work is inseparable from the legal argument being made about it.
An anti-dumping duty, once imposed, normally runs for five years from the date of the notification, though a fresh sunset review under Section 9A(5) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 can extend it where DGTR finds that dumping and injury are likely to continue or recur if the duty is withdrawn.
Related reading
- The calculation methodology and the notification process are set out in full on our Anti-Dumping Duty Process in India page.
Who We Represent
Which side of an anti-dumping proceeding we act on depends entirely on who the client is in that matter. The same statutory framework and the same margin arithmetic apply whether a client is petitioning for a duty or defending against one.
Domestic industry petitioners
Seeking a new investigation, or defending an existing duty at sunset review as it approaches the end of its five-year term.
Foreign exporters
Responding to a questionnaire and seeking an individual dumping margin rather than being assessed at the residual rate that applies to non-cooperating exporters.
Importers and user industries
Affected by a proposed or existing duty, including making the case that continued duty runs against the wider public interest.
New exporters
Seeking a new shipper review where they did not export during the original period of investigation and would otherwise take the residual rate.
Anti-Dumping Duty, Countervailing Duty and Safeguard Duty: Not the Same Remedy
All three trade remedies are administered by DGTR, but they respond to different problems and rest on different legal tests.
| Remedy | Statutory Basis | What It Targets |
|---|---|---|
Anti-Dumping DutyPricing-based |
Section 9A, Customs Tariff Act, 1975 | Goods exported to India at less than their normal value, causing injury to domestic industry |
Countervailing DutySubsidy-based |
Section 9, Customs Tariff Act, 1975 | Goods benefiting from a specific subsidy in the exporting country, causing injury to domestic industry |
Safeguard DutyVolume-based |
Customs Tariff (Identification and Assessment of Safeguard Duty) Rules, 1997, as amended | A sudden surge in imports, regardless of whether the goods are dumped or subsidised, causing or threatening serious injury |
This page focuses on anti-dumping matters specifically. A countervailing duty investigation runs on a closely related but distinct legal test, since it examines a government subsidy rather than an export pricing decision, and we handle those matters separately as they arise. Our Countervailing Duty Consultant India and Trade Remedies Lawyer India pages cover the other two remedies in the same depth.
Appeals: CESTAT Under Section 9C
A DGTR finding or a customs notification imposing anti-dumping duty is not appealed through the ordinary customs appellate route. Section 9C of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 provides a specific appeal to the Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal against such a determination, and the tribunal's specialised bench for these matters applies a different standard of review than a typical customs valuation or classification appeal. Marg Tax Advisors represents clients at this stage where a DGTR or customs finding needs to be challenged.
Why an India-Wide Anti-Dumping Lawyer Team Based in Noida, Delhi NCR Matters
DGTR is headquartered in Delhi, and most hearings, disclosure meetings and oral submissions in an anti-dumping investigation happen there, regardless of where the domestic industry or the responding exporter is actually based. A Delhi NCR based anti-dumping lawyer can attend a DGTR hearing on short notice and track an investigation's procedural timeline closely, while still representing clients located anywhere in India or, for a responding exporter, anywhere in the world.
Who You'll Work With
Shashank Shekhar Gupta
Founder, Chartered Accountant and Lawyer
Anti-dumping matters at Marg Tax Advisors are led by Shashank Shekhar Gupta, founder of the firm, a Chartered Accountant and a lawyer who chairs the International Trade Law Committee of the Indian Industries Association, North India’s largest association of MSME manufacturers, many of whom are the domestic industry petitioners this kind of investigation is meant to protect.