New Delhi: India on Monday said it has
operationalised trade-opening pacts with South Korea and three
key Asean countries-- Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia -- by
slashing duties on hundreds of products, including seafood,
chemicals, apparel and tyres.
The notifications giving effect to the free trade
agreements from January 1 with these countries were issued by
the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) tonight.
Duties on products like fruits, nuts, seafood would be
reduced by about 70 per cent from the three key members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The remaining seven Asean members would take a few more
months to get the India-Asean trade pact implemented.
Indian exports to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia,
which accounts for over 90 per cent of the India-Asean USD
44-billion trade, would get the reciprocal concessional duty
treatment.
Under the Indo-Korean Comprehensive Economic Partnership
Agreement (CEPA), customs duties have been cut or eliminated
on items like tyres, electrical goods, vehicle parts and
petroleum products.
India had signed the FTA with ASEAN on August 13 and CEPA
with South Korea a week earlier.
The agreement was signed despite opposition in some parts
of the country like Kerala where the political parties said
that India was giving unbridled access to import of plantation
crops.
PTI
First Published: Monday, January 04, 2010, 22:30