The Hindu Business Line : Rubber, cashew in Asean trade pact negative list, says Scindia

Chennai, Sept. 23 There are adequate protective measures to safeguard Indian farmers and the labour-intensive industries in the recently-signed Free Trade Agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said Mr Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry.

Speaking to journalists of The Hindu group of publications, Mr Scindia said the concerns raised by some, especially farmers in Kerala, were valid. However, if one read the fineprint, he would know that the farmers’ interests have been protected.

To illustrate this he said 489 items have been taken off the list of tariff concession while 590 items have been taken off the list of tariff elimination. These items are predominantly in the agricultural sector, marine sector and other labour-intensive industries such as handloom and handicrafts. Commodities such as cashew and rubber have been put on the negative list. “We are looking at rationalising tariff on coffee and tea to 45 per cent, which still high, from 100 per cent,” he said.

He said though the bound tariff on refined palm oil has been brought down from 90 per cent to 45 per cent, it is still far higher than today’s applied tariff of 7.5 per cent. Similarly, on crude palm oil, the applied tariff today is zero, but the FTA envisages a bound tariff from 80 per cent to 37 per cent over a period of 15 years.

Safeguard duty

Mr Scindia said that adequate protection measures have been taken which included imposing safeguard duty if so deemed fit over the next 10 years for a period of four years. Further, ‘rules of origin’ ensure that there is a minimum value addition of 35 per cent, so that member-countries of ASEAN do not simply route their exports to India due to the FTA.

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