The Indian government on Monday said that under the India-US bilateral trade agreement, market access to US agricultural products has been decided on the basis of the sensitivity of the products. The government clarified that highly sensitive agricultural sectors have been given full protection under a carefully designed exemption category.
According to the Centre, the offer in this agreement is divided into five categories
- immediate fee termination,
- phased out fee phase out (up to 10 years),
- fee reduction,
- Margin of Preference and Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) Arrangement
fully protected product
The government reported that meat, poultry and dairy; GM food products; Soy flour; Maize; Cereals and coarse grains (sorghum, millet, ragi, kodo, amaranth); Fruits (banana, strawberry, cherry, citrus); Pulses (green peas, chickpeas, mung beans); Oilseeds; Some animal feed products; Groundnut; Honey; Malt and its extracts; Non-Alcoholic Beverages; Flour and meal; Starch; essential oil; Products like ethanol for fuel and tobacco have been kept in the completely exempted category.
Phase out duty over 10 years
Some intermediate inputs from the food processing industry such as albumins; coconut, castor and cotton seed oils; hoofmeal; lard; Stearin; modified starch; Duties on peptones and plants/plant parts will be phased out over 10 years to allow domestic stakeholders time to adjust.
Limited Concessions and TRQ
Partial duty reductions have been implemented on some sensitive agricultural products (e.g. plant parts, olives, pyrethrum, oil cakes). Duty reduction on alcoholic beverages is given with a minimum import price based formula. At the same time, some products like in-shell almonds, walnuts, pistachios and pulses have been allowed in limited quantities at lower duty under the tariff rate quota.
trade balance and export profits
According to government data, India’s agricultural trade with the US will have a surplus of $1.3 billion in 2024, with exports at $3.4 billion and imports at $2.1 billion.
Lower duties on Indian products compared to competitors
In an interview, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said Indian agricultural products would attract lower reciprocal duties than those of competitors. He said that there will be zero duty on products like tea, coffee, spices, coconut/coconut oil and vegetable wax.
Earlier in the press conference on Saturday, the Minister reiterated that the products of Indian farmers will be exported to America at zero duty, while no new duty concession has been given to American agricultural products in the Indian market. He said that India’s farmers, MSMEs, artisans and craftsmen will not be at any loss; Rather, India will benefit from better access to the US market.
