By Admin 
India-EU FTA: After 18 years of long negotiations between India and the European Union (EU), the free trade deal was finally finalized on Tuesday. However, under this deal, India has not reduced tariffs on many products like dairy, rice, wheat, pulses, tea, genetically modified (GM) products and coffee. The Commerce Ministry gave this information on Wednesday. The ministry said that in the trade deal with the EU, many products like beef and poultry, fish and marine products, cheese, maize, fruits and vegetables, dry fruits, edible oils and tobacco have also been kept out of the scope of tariffs.
Why did India take this decision?
According to the ministry, these areas are directly related to the livelihood of small and marginal farmers, hence it is necessary to provide them security. An official said that till now India has kept its dairy sector out of the scope of exemption under tariff in any free trade agreement with any country and this will be protected in the future also. “We will continue to protect this sector,” the official said.
India and the European Union (EU) completed negotiations on FTA on Tuesday and it is likely to be signed and implemented this year. The Commerce Ministry said that the EU, a group of 27 European countries, has also kept some sensitive areas out of the scope of this agreement. It has kept products like meat and meat products, dairy products, honey, rice, sugar and tobacco under protection. Under the agreement, many Indian agricultural products will get duty concessions in the EU market, which is expected to boost India’s exports.
India will get preferential market access in about 87 percent duty categories of agricultural products like tea, coffee, spices and table grapes. Additionally, the EU will reduce the duty range on some marine products from the current zero to 26 percent, which is likely to increase exports of marine products. According to the ministry, the EU’s marine product import market is worth about Rs 4.67 lakh crore ($53.6 billion).
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