India-Australia trade agreement to greatly benefit MSMEs: Piyush Goyal.

Small businesses are set to directly benefit from the elimination of import duties from Australia, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said at the launch of the interim trade pact between both nations.
“Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are one to create jobs and use the benefit of the duty becoming zero as MSME accounts for the majority of our exports,” Goyal said.
Small businesses are set to directly benefit from the elimination of import duties from Australia, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said at the launch of the interim trade pact between both nations.
“Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are one to create jobs and use the benefit of the duty becoming zero as MSME accounts for the majority of our exports,” Goyal said.The interim pact, also known as the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), has the potential to double bilateral trade to $50 billion in half a decade. The trade deal was signed on April 2 and the negotiations were completed in a record 88 days.
“This is an agreement negotiated with the speed of Brett Lee and the perfection of Sachin Tendulkar," Goyal said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the operationalisation of the agreement as a "watershed" moment. “Glad that IndAus ECTA is entering into force today. It is a watershed moment for our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. It will unlock the enormous potential of our trade and economic ties and boost businesses on both sides. Look forward to welcoming you in India soon," Modi tweeted.
Goyal said the deal was a win-win situation for both the nations. India will get cheaper raw materials such as coal, aluminium for Indian industries, which will help the country become more competitive and provide quality goods for Indian consumers at affordable prices. Australia, which largely imports most of their finished products, will also benefit from the agreement.
India will benefit from the preferential market access provided by Australia on 100 per cent of its tariff lines — 98.3 per cent tariff lines from Day One. The rest tariff reduction will be in a phased manner for five years. On the other hand, Australia will get preferential access to over 70 per cent of India’s tariff lines. Around 40 per cent of the tariff lines will get zero-duty access immediately.
“ECTA’s entry into force today opens up the world’s largest democracy, with nearly one and a half billion people, to Australian exporters — early entry into force sees Australian exporters receive a tariff cut today, followed by another on January 1,” Australia’s Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell said in a statement.
ECTA will also eliminate the double taxation on IT services that was making India less competitive. It will come into effect from April 1.
Indian textiles and garments will gain immensely along with opportunities for the handloom sector, A Sakthivel, president of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), said referring to the trade deal. Other segments in Tamil Nadu that can gain larger market share in Australia are gems and jewellery, leather and non-leather footwear, handicrafts, automobile parts, and engineering products.
During April-October, Australia was India’s 10th largest trading partner of India worth $17.04 billion. India exported goods worth $4.73 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal year, while imported goods worth $12.31 billion during the same period. India is Australia’s sixth-largest trading partner and our fourth-largest export market.


(With inputs from Shine Jacob in Chennai)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘Am not Jesus Christ’: BJP leader Annamalai takes a swipe at TN minister PTR

Image
CHENNAI:  Tamil Nadu’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief K Annamalai on Thursday justified his outburst on Twitter against state finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, saying he wasn’t Jesus Christ to turn the other cheek when the minister insults him. “They speak of social justice but how many first-generation politicians have come up in the DMK?” said the former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who quit his job in 2019 and joined the BJP. Annamalai, who unsuccessfully contested the 2021 assembly elections, was appointed as the state’s BJP chief 2021, the youngest party leader to hold the post. He is 38. “And if someone like that does come up, you use abusive language and your I-T wing. I’m not Jesus Christ to turn my other cheek if you slap me. If you hit me, I will hit back. If you are aggressive, I’ll come at you with double aggression. If the DMK engages in respectful politics, I’ll be doubly respectful. The DMK has to forget its old way of doing politics by ...
Read more

Community seed bank initiative traces & restores heritage rice varieties in Tamil Nadu.

Image
 C ommunity seed banks have been promoted by  identification of willing farmers based on location with assistance from local NGOs in 24 districts -- Ariyalur, Chengalpattu, Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Dindugul, Erode, Kanchipuram, Karur, Madurai, Mayiladurai, Nagapattinam, Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram, Ranipettai, Salem, Sivagangai, Tenkasi, Thanjavur, Thoothukudi, Thiruvannamalai, Thiruvarur, Tiruchirappalli, Villupuram & Viruthunagar. A lead farmer cultivates one to many traditional varieties in his farm, a part of which when harvested is shared and distributed to other interested farmers in the neighboring localities and districts with or without payment. This is an informal structure with voluntary participation. A seed bank capital of Rs. 2000 was distributed to each beneficiary farmer to strengthen the heritage rice community seed banks. The initiative by SASTRA Deemed to be University, with support from the Science and Heritage Research Initiative (SHRI) programme of the ...
Read more

Ganesh and Siddhi

Image
Ganesh and Siddhi 10th-11th century India Buff sandstone Ganesh, the Hindu god of success, was the son of the goddess Parvati. He is also worshipped as the deity of doorways, education, knowledge, wisdom, and wealth. According to myth, Ganesh's mother created him. Parvati made her young son guardian of her boudoir. One day, Shiva came to Parvati’s chamber, and Ganesh refused him entrance. Shiva was enraged, and—not recognizing Ganesh—cut off the boy’s head. When Parvati saw what had happened, she was inconsolable. In an effort to soothe her, Shiva replaced Ganesh’s severed head with that of an elephant and accepted him as his son. Siddhi, the personification of spiritual power and one of Ganesh’s consorts, perches on his leg holding a basket of round sweets called laddus, which represent the rewards of living a wise life. The tusk in Ganesh’s lower right hand signifies self-sacrifice. He broke it off so that he could use it to write the sacred epic poem the Mahabharata....
Read more