India offers limited access to agri goods; protects staples, dairy

NEW DELHI: Ending months of uncertainty, India and US announced the finalisation of the first tranche of the trade deal early Saturday that will see Washington lower “reciprocal tariffs” on Indian exports to 18% over the next few days and New Delhi slash levies on several American imports.The India-US joint statement came with US President Donald Trump scrapping the 25% penalty on Indian exports for Russian oil purchases, a move that overnight makes made-in-India products, including those in the high seas, competitive in the American market. Labour-intensive sectors with significant MSME presence, textiles, leather and footwear and marine products, are expected to be big beneficiaries as they were facing strong headwinds due to the punishing 50% additional tariffs, which will now drop to 18% over the product-specific or MFN tariff that applies to all countries.Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal told reporters that India has opted for calibrated opening up, allowing American imports in areas where there were requirements, while protecting sensitivities in key segments such as agricultural and dairy products, including cereals, corn, sugar, soybean, genetically modified (GM) food products and fuel ethanol.While sensitive farm goods were the sticking point, India has sought to work out an arrangement where products such as apples and cotton long staple fibre will enter India at lower duty, but in specified quantities. Import duties will be slashed for pistachios, walnuts, almonds, soybean oil and some lentils, wines and whiskey as well as dried distillers’ grains and red sorghum for animal feed. In return, several Indian foods products, including bananas, guava, spices, tea, coffee and processed food items, will also get zero-duty access in US.