New Delhi: India is open to committing zero import duty on sectors like gems and jewellery at the Doha Round of global trade talks but has ruled out doing the same for sectors like chemicals, industrial machinery, electrical and electronic goods as well as health care equipment. The country is also opposed to the proposal on liberalising trading of second-hand goods but is willing to explore the issue once the Doha Round is concluded.
According to a proposal in the Doha Round talks, countries will have to undertake heavy duty cuts in about 14 industrial sectors under the provisions of the 'sectoral' talks. These cuts will be over and above the ones committed in the global trade deal. India has opposed the mandatory nature of sectorals and has been maintaining that countries should volunteer for it.
‘‘Sectorals could be a deal breaker. But we are open to having sectoral talks on gems and jewellery and certain components of in organic chemicals,’’ said Amarendra Khatua, joint secretary, department of commerce at a seminar organised by Ficci, Unctad and Centre for WTO studies.
The main proponent of sectorals is the United States, which wants to have an assured market access in products of its interest. But the Indian industry has been opposing the sectoral talks as it feels it would open up sensitive sectors, which are not prepared for imports.
Analysis by the commerce ministry has shown that trade liberalisation through the sectoral route does not benefit the country that offers it. Consultations done by the ministry have revealed that the industry is willing to consider to have an import duty of 5% but is opposed to complete tariff elimination under sectoral talks.
India has also been opposing another US initiated proposal on liberalising trade of remanufactured products, which India does not allow. ‘‘India has opposed this. We have maintained that once the Doha Round is finalised, we could look at the issue by launching a national programme to assess the issue domestically. There may be sectors that could be interested. But first we have to deal with issues like the definition of what constitutes remanufacturing,’’ Khatua said.
The commerce ministry analysis shows that if the current proposals on the Doha Round are accepted, the peak tariff for industrial goods in the country could be 17.3 to 18.8%. Most of the industrial goods traded by India have WTO duty commitments in the range of 40 to 60%, even though the applied rates are much less. If the current proposals are accepted, then the duty commitments in this segment will be reduced to 13.3 to 16.2%.
However, the duty commitments to the WTO won’t have to be applied as soon as the Doha Round is signed and instead the cuts will be spread over 11 years. ‘‘If the global trade deal is implemented from 2011, then the final duty cuts will be seen in 2021,’’ said RS Ratna, professor, Centre for WTO studies.
Source : Financial Express