New Delhi, Feb 3: India has ensured the interests of its sensitive agriculture and dairy sectors are completely protected in the bilateral trade pact that it is finalising with the US following months of negotiations, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday.
Hours after US President Donald Trump announced cut in tariff to 18 percent from 50 percent in return for favourable treatment by New Delhi, Goyal said a joint statement will be issued by both countries soon that will spell out the details of the pact.
The two countries have reached a framework for a bilateral trade agreement.
He said that a joint statement will be issued by both countries “shortly” which will have details of the pact, which was awaited by industry and exporters eagerly.
The minister assured that the agreement will provide huge opportunities for people of the country and “will protect the sensitive sectors, the interests of our agriculture and our dairy sectors in full respect”.
Goyal said that the agreement will open huge opportunities for Indian labour-intensive sectors, such as textiles, plastics, apparel, home decor, leather and footwear, gems and jewellery, organic chemicals, rubber goods, machineries and aircraft.
Import duty on most of these sectors will come down soon to 18 percent from the present 50 percent in the US markets.
The minister said that India is a fast-growing and large economy and demand is continuously increasing for goods such as ICT products, data center equipment, high-quality technology and innovation items, and raw materials.
“And in that situation, this deal also opens up opportunities for India to get the best-in-class, world-class technologies to further power the India growth story,” he told reporters here.
He said that India has got a “very good” trade deal with the US, better than the competitors of India.
The major countries which compete with Indian labour-intensive sectors in the global markets include China, Vietnam (20 percent), Malaysia (19 percent), Bangladesh (20 percent), Cambodia and Thailand (19 percent each).
Without giving details of what has been agreed with Washington, Goyal said the trade deal is in the final stages, and an Indo-US joint statement will be issued shortly detailing the contours of the agreement.
According to sources, the US has agreed to remove the 25 percent punitive tariff on India for purchasing Russian oil and the reciprocal tariff has come down to 18 percent from 25 percent.
“So the final tariffs on India will be 18 percent,” a source said.
Sectors such as leather and footwear; marine products (including shrimp); chemicals, plastics and rubber; home decor and carpets; machinery; and select agricultural products, including processed items, will gain a major advantage in the US market vis-‡-vis competing nations as the American duties will come down to 18 percent.
“These goods will now get best rates in the US,” a source said adding different Indian clusters like Tirupur (apparels), Surat (gems and jewellery) which were affected by the high tariffs will now gain.
India’s exports from these sectors stood at USD 30 billion to the US.
Now duties on these will come down to 18 per cent from 25 percent.
The country’s shipments worth USD 4 billion are already in the exempted category like minerals and natural resources and certain agri products.
Further pharma and mobile phones worth USD 25 billion are also out of the ambit of US tariffs.
Though the US is major market for these segments of goods, Indian exporters have started diversifying their sale sin other countries.
India has agreed to grant duty concessions in sectors in the same manner as it has done under other free trade agreements (FTAs).
While import duties will be eliminated in certain areas on the day the agreement comes into force, in others they will be phased out over time.
In some sectors, duties will be reduced, while in others quota-based concessions will be provided.
India has always kept out sensitive sectors such as dairy, rice, wheat, meat, poultry, cereals, GM foods, soymeal, and maize out of the ambit of its trade agreements.
On the Trump’s statement that India has committed to buy USD 500 billion worth of American goods such as energy, technology, agricultural items, coal, another goods, sources said it would be over five years and will also include purchase of aircraft and parts.
“…we will be importing goods worth USD 50-55 billion, for data centres alone we will need goods worth USD 20 billion a year, ” the source said.
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