Textile stocks poised for reassessment following government's exemption of duty on extra-long staple cotton

On Tuesday, the union government totally freed imports of extra long staple cotton from customs charge and reduced duties on specific varieties of imported blueberries, cranberries, and frozen turkey.

The reduction follows a recommendation from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which came after India and the United States agreed to settle seven trade issues, according to officials. Following the settlement, India removed additional taxes on eight US-origin items, including apples, walnuts, and almonds.

According to the statement, the Finance Ministry reduced import duties on specific types of blueberries and cranberries from 30% to 10% in some cases and 5% in others.

Import duties on turkey meat and edible offal were decreased from 30% to 5% beginning Tuesday. 

"Reducing the levy on certain specialised commodities that are rarely produced in India will assist the United States in entering the Indian market while also lowering the pricing of these products in India. This action will also assist other WTO member countries," said Khushbu Trivedi, Associate Director of Indirect Tax at Nangia Andersen India.

The announcement also decreased the import duty to 'NIL' for 'Cotton, not carded or combed, with staple length exceeding 32mm.' 

This was done in response to the cotton sector's concerns, This decision reflects a proactive approach by the government to address industry feedback and adapt import regulations accordingly, potentially benefiting stakeholders involved in the cotton sector.

During PM Modi's visit to the United States in June last year, India and the United States announced the resolution of six WTO trade disputes, as well as India's reduction of tariffs on select US items such as chickpeas, lentils, almonds, walnuts, apples, boric acid, and diagnostic reagents.

Later in September of last year, the governments reached an agreement on the final poultry issue. The US brought the poultry lawsuit against India in the WTO in 2012, and India lost the issue at both the panel and appellate levels.

It was found against India that New Delhi's prohibition on poultry imports from the United States violated international laws.

23/02/2024 06:23pm