Lok Sabha Question No. 892 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-11-21
Subject: Concessions and Benefits under Trade Agreements
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE, RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 892 TO BE ANSWERED ON 21 st  NOVEMBER, 2016

## CONCESSIONS AND BENEFITS UNDER TRADE AGREEMENTS

## 892. SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE: SHRI SATAV RAJEEV:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE & INDUSTRY ( वाͨणÏय एवं उɮयोग मंğी ) be pleased to state:

- (a) the trade concessions being extended to the countries by India under Asia Pacific Trade Agreements  (APTA)  and  the  reciprocal  concessions  received  by  India  under  the  said agreement;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  decided  to  ease  rules  for  import  of  railway  locomotives, nuclear plants, fissile materials and aircraft under APTA and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (c) the  progress  in  talks  on  India's  membership  to  Regional  Comprehensive  Economic Partnership (RCEP) and Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP);
- (d) the benefits to India from joining RCEP and TPP other than those already accruing from being part of APTA; and
- (e) the steps taken by the Government to prevent the Free Trade Agreements from hurting the local manufacturing?

## ANSWER

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## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) (SMT. NIRMALA SITHARAMAN)

(a) & (b): The tariff concessions being granted to Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) member States, on Margin of Preference basis, under the fourth round of exchange of tariff concessions,  includes  certain  tariff  lines  relating  to  railway  locomotives,  nuclear  plants, fissile material and aircraft. The Union Cabinet, in its meeting on 12th September, 2016 has approved  the  exchange  of  these  tariff  concessions. The  decisions  of  the  Cabinet  would  be implemented at the next meeting of the Ministerial Council of APTA.

The APTA (formerly the Bangkok Agreement) is an Agreement signed since 1975. Three Rounds of tariff concessions have already been exchanged among the member countries till

2003.  The  current  membership  of  APTA  consists  of  six  countries,  namely,  Bangladesh, China, India, Lao PDR, Republic of Korea, and Sri Lanka.

(c) & (d): India  is  part  of  the  Regional  Comprehensive  Economic  Partnership  (RCEP) which is a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) amongst sixteen countries consisting of ten ASEAN member states  and  their  six  Free  Trade  Partners  namely  India,  Australia,  China, Japan, New Zealand and Republic of Korea. The RCEP is intended to facilitate and thereby increase  goods  and  services  trade  as  well  as  investment  flows  amongst  the  participating countries.India  has  stressed on  the need  for parallelism between the  negotiations  on  goods and services. The negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) have been concluded but the agreement is not yet ratified for implementation by the participating countries. India is not part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.

(e) :          In  order  to  protect  the  interest  of the  local  manufacturing(domestic  industry),  the FTAs provide for maintaining sensitive/negative lists of items on which limited or no tariff concessions are granted under the agreement. In addition, in case of a surge in imports and injury to the domestic industry, a country is allowed to take recourse to the measures such as anti-dumping and safeguards.