NEWS
REPORT: INDIA WILL NOT OFFER ZERO TARIFFS FOR AUSSIE WINES IN FREE TRADE DEAL
By Siulan Law Mathews DipWSET
8-2-2022
Credit: Naveed Ahmed/Unsplash
India will only partially reduce import tariffs on Australian wines as part of the free trade agreement being negotiated, according to Indian media reports.
Quoting government sources familiar with the free trade agreement negotiations between India and Australia, The Hindu BusinessLine reported that the tariff cut to be offered by India will only applied to Australian wines of a certain minimum value as well.
“The Indian industry is not averse to the idea of including wines and spirits in the free trade agreement but they have certain apprehensions that need to be taken care of,” The Hindu BusinessLine quoted a source familiar with the negotiations as saying.
“The Commerce Ministry has called for another round of talks with the wine industry in India to take inputs before finalising the offer,” the source added.
India’s wine industry has suggested to its government a 30 percent cut of tariffs on Australian wines in the short term and a further 30 percent reduction over 10 years.
“In response to Australia’s ask for tariff reduction on wines, we have suggested that the tariff may be brought down to 100 per cent from the current 150 per cent and to 50 per cent over 10 years, subject to a value of $3.5 perbottle or $5 per litre (for bulk wine),” Vinod Giri, Director General, Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies, told The Hindu BusinessLine.
India and Australia are currently working towards an early harvest deal that would precede the full fledged free trade agreement to cover areas including goods, services, investments, intellectual property, e-commerce and government procurement.
Convincing India to lower the high 150 percent import tariffs on wines and spirits is one of the top priorities for Australia.
Tony Abbott, Canberra’s special envoy to India and former Australian Prime Minister, visited India in December last year and met with India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
Abbot said after the meeting that both countries were confident in signing an early harvest trade deal by January 2022 to include tariff cuts on Australian wine imports by India. He was also confident that a full-fledged free trade agreement can be concluded within 2022.
Despite Abbot’s optimism, both sides are still negotiating the terms of the early harvest deal, and the cuts India is prepared to offer may not be as generous as Abbot has expected.
(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)
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