G/SCM/Q2/IND/40  
 
27 October 2014  
(14-6206)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures  Original: English  
 
SUBSIDIES 
REPLY TO QUESTION1 POSED BY THE UNITED STATES REGARDING THE NEW 
AND FULL NOTIFICATION OF INDIA2  
The following communication, dated 24 October 2014, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of India.  
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  The United States welcomes India's recently submitted notification of its subsidies to 
the Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. However, the United States 
remains very concerned regarding the relatively small number of programs notified by India. Publicly available information appears to indicate that India maintains numerous 
subsidy programs that may meet the requirements for notification under Article 25.
3  
 Question 
 
Please explain why India considers that the programs below do not to meet the notification requirements under Article 25 of the SCM Agreement. 
 
Central Level Programs 
 
 Tax and Duty Incentives under the Export ‐Oriented Unit (EOU) Program 
 Subsidized Loans to the Marine Products Industry 
 Service Tax Drawback Scheme for Exporters 
 Vishesh Krishi and Gram Udyog Yojana (VKGUY) 
 Special Duty Exemption Scheme for Marine Sector Under Chapter 1B of Foreign 
Trade Policy 
 Duty Incentives under the Export Pr omotion Capital Goods (EPCG) Program 
 Assistance from the National Fisherie s Development Board (NFDB) – Direct 
Transfers 
 Subsidy in the form of Provision of Good s or Services for Development of Inland 
Fisheries and Aquaculture 
 
Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) Programs 
 
 MPEDA Subsidies for New Shrimp Farms 
                                               
1 G/SCM/Q2/IND/35. 
2 G/SCM/N/253/IND. 
3 G/SCM/Q2/IND/20. G/SCM/Q2/IND/40 
 
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   MPEDA Subsidies for Shrimp Hatcheries 
 MPEDA Subsidies for Shrimp Farm Effluent Treatment Systems 
 MPEDA Assistance for Organic Shrimp Farmers 
 MPEDA Technology Upgrade Sc heme for Marine Products 
 MPEDA: Financial Assistance for Impr oving Infrastructure Facilities for 
Preservation and Processing of Fish 
 MPEDA Sea Freight Assistance 
 Development of Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Scheme 
 State Sales Tax Incentive 
Reply 
 
Most of the schemes referred above (say the EOU Program, Duty Drawback on exports, Special 
Duty Exemption Scheme etc.), are primarily duty neutralization schemes and the Government of India does not consider the need for notifying these schemes under Article 25 of the 
SCM Agreement. For some of other schemes referred by the US, India is in the process of 
collecting and compiling the required information for a common notification covering all other sectors. 
 
So far as the schemes like "Assistance from the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB)- Direct Transfers" and "Subsidy in the form of Pr ovision of Goods or Services for Development of 
Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture" (referred by the US above), are concerned, these programmes 
include assistance from NFDB (Direct transfer ) and Development of Inland Fisheries and 
Aquaculture Scheme of Department of Animal Hu sbandry, Dairying & Fisheries. Government of 
India considers that the subsidies programmes of NFDB and DADF concerning other fishery 
activities are outside the purview of the marine fisheries discipline. Moreover, these subsidies do 
not contribute to the over-capacity and over-fishing.   
So far as the MPEDA schemes (referred by the US) are concerned, all of them have been notified 
to WTO and are available in the WTO document "G/SCM/N/253/IND".   MPEDA does not provide "State Sales Tax Incentives" to the fisheries sector and hence not notified 
under the MPEDA schemes. 
 
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