New Delhi, April 3 -- India is considering tightening its duties on jute and jute products to check imports of cheap, subsidized goods from Bangladesh that are undermining local manufacturers, a senior official said.

Cheap imports, combined with high raw material costs, act as a disincentive and are blamed for a shortfall in domestic production of jute products.

India started investigating imports of Bangladeshi jute goods towards the end of last year, to look at imposing countervailing duty (CVD), which came up in a petition to the government by the Indian Jute Mills Association.

CVDs are aimed at checking import of goods that benefit from subsidies offered by the government of the exporting country. Under global trade rules, such dut...