CBIC Cuts Basic Customs Duty on Soya, Palm and Sunflower Oils From September 24; Crude Sunflower Falls to Nil

The Central Government has reduced the concessional basic customs duty rates for six edible-oil tariff entries with effect from 24 September 2026. Notification No. 31/2026-Customs, dated 23 September, amends Table I of Notification No. 45/2025-Customs and changes the rates applying to specified soya-bean, palm and sunflower-oil entries.

The largest percentage-point cut is on tariff item 1512 11 10, covering crude sunflower seed oil: the notified rate moves from 10% to Nil. The other five affected entries also receive lower rates. The operative amendment is in the Gazette notification for Notification No. 31/2026-Customs, while the underlying product entries and old rates sit in CBIC's principal Notification No. 45/2025-Customs.

The six affected tariff entries now carry rates from Nil to 27.5%

The September 23 notification substitutes the rate in column (4) for six serial numbers in Table I of the principal exemption notification. Read with the tariff headings and the principal table, the changes are:

• Soya-bean oil, tariff item 1507 10 00: 10% becomes 5%.
• Soya-bean oil, edible-grade entry 1507 90 10: 32.5% becomes 27.5%.
• Crude palm oil, tariff item 1511 10 00: 10% becomes 5%.
• Other palm oil and fractions under 1511 90: 32.5% becomes 27.5%.
• Crude sunflower seed oil, tariff item 1512 11 10: 10% becomes Nil.
• Sunflower oil, edible-grade tariff item 1512 19 10: 32.5% becomes 22.5%.

For the soya and palm entries, the reduction is five percentage points. The two sunflower entries receive a ten-percentage-point reduction, with the crude sunflower entry moving to Nil. The amendment does not alter every vegetable-oil tariff line in Chapter 15; its legal effect is confined to the six serial numbers expressly changed.

The new rates apply from September 24, not from the September 23 issue date

Notification No. 31/2026-Customs was issued on 23 September but expressly states that it comes into force on 24 September 2026. Importers, customs brokers and finance teams therefore need the effective-date distinction when reviewing duty workings around the changeover.

The notification amends the concessional standard rate in column (4) of Table I of Notification No. 45/2025-Customs. It should not be read as a statement that every import tax or levy on the covered goods becomes the same percentage, and it does not say that all sunflower, palm or soya products are duty-free. Classification and the exact eight-digit or sub-heading entry remain controlling.

This duty-rate cut is different from CBIC's tariff-value revisions

CA Samaaj recently reported CBIC's September 1 tariff-value update for edible oils, precious metals and other goods. The two measures do different jobs. Tariff values under section 14(2) provide notified valuation benchmarks for specified imports; Notification No. 31/2026-Customs changes the concessional basic customs duty rates for the six listed entries.

That distinction matters in landed-cost work. A customs calculation can require both the correct assessable-value basis and the correct duty rate. Updating only the tariff value while leaving an old 10% or 32.5% rate in an ERP, broker instruction or import-cost model would produce a stale calculation after the September 24 change where the amended entry applies.

Import teams should update classification-linked duty masters rather than use a blanket edible-oil rate

The safest operational response is to map the amended serial number to the exact tariff classification already used in the bill-of-entry and master-data process. In particular, the Nil rate is specific to tariff item 1512 11 10; it should not be copied across the entire 1512 heading or treated as a general exemption for all sunflower, safflower or cotton-seed oils.

Similarly, the 1511 90 amendment applies to the principal notification's broad “all goods” entry under that sub-heading, while palm stearin with the separate description at serial number 48 is not one of the six serial numbers changed by Notification No. 31/2026-Customs. That is why a product-level classification check matters before a finance team changes expected duty cost.

The notification itself does not state a retail-price outcome, quantify a consumer benefit or forecast import volumes. Those effects depend on commercial pricing, landed cost, exchange rates, freight and market conditions. For professional users, the verified immediate consequence is narrower and concrete: from September 24, the six specified exemption entries carry lower basic customs duty rates and current import-cost workings should use those amended rates where the classification fits.

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