Minister highlights potential for exporting finished goods to Australia
Australia, which is largely dependent on imports, will benefit hugely from its free trade agreement and will soon start seeing a lot more finished goods coming in from India, providing huge amount of work and job opportunities in both goods and services, provided by Indian talent.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal underlined his sentiments as the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (#IndAusECTA) came into effect from 29 Dec 2022.
Over 1 lakh Indian students to benefit from post-study work visa, he said.
“The Agreement will also eliminate double taxation on IT services which were making us less competitive and making us less profitable in IT sector. The double taxation has now been removed by amending the law from 1 April, we will save millions and millions of dollars right now, and over a billion dollars going forward, maybe 5-7 years going forward, giving us competitive edge and also creating a lot of many more jobs,” Goyal told media in Mumbai.
“Agricultural and dairy sector products, which were very sensitive for India and without which Australia has never done an agreement before, have been protected. I am hugely grateful to the Australian government for this.”
“There is a lot of potential for exporting finished goods to Australia, since they hardly manufacture anything. They are largely a raw material and intermediate producing country, we will get cheaper raw materials which will not only make us more competitive globally but also enable us to serve Indian consumers better; enabling us to provide more quality goods at more affordable prices.”
The Agreement has been “negotiated with the speed of (cricketers) Bret Lee and Sachin Tendulkar”, he said of the precision in execution of the pact.
The ECTA was signed on 2 April 2022, ratified on 21 November, written notifications were exchanged on 29 November.
India will benefit from preferential market access provided by Australia on 100% of its tariff lines, including all the labour-intensive sectors of export interest to India, such as Gems and Jewellery, Textiles, leather, footwear, furniture, food, and agricultural products, engineering products, medical devices and automobiles. On the other hand, India will be offering preferential access to Australia on over 70% of its tariff lines, including lines of export interest to Australia, which are primarily raw materials and intermediaries such as coal, mineral ores and wines.
As regards trade in services, Australia has offered wide-ranging commitments in around 135 sub-sectors and Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status in 120 sub-sectors covering key areas of interest to India.
On the other hand, India has offered market access to Australia in around 103 sub-sectors and Most Favoured Nation status in 31 sub-sectors from the 11 broad service sectors such as business services, communication services, construction and related engineering services, and so on.
Both sides have also agreed to a separate Annex on Pharmaceutical products under this agreement, which will enable fast-track approval for patented, generic and biosimilar medicines.
It is estimated that an additional 10 lakh jobs would be created in India under ECTA.
Indian Yoga teachers and chefs are set to gain with the annual visa quota. Over 1 lakh Indian students would benefit from post-study work visa (for 18 months to 4 years) under the ECTA.
The agreement is also likely to increase investment opportunities, promote exports, create significant additional employment and facilitate strong bonding between the two countries. fiinews.com
