India again defers deadline to impose retaliatory import duties on US products

The Indian government has again extended the deadline by nearly a month to impose retaliatory import duties on 29 US products, including almond, walnut and pulses, an official notification said on Tuesday. These deadlines were extended several times since June 2018, when India decided to impose these duties in retaliation to a move by the US to impose high customs duties on certain steel and aluminium products.

This extension comes in the backdrop of the US decision to withdraw export incentives being provided to Indian exporters under Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme, which is expected to impact India's exports to the US worth USD 5.6 billion under this scheme. America had given 60 days notice, which ended on May 2 but has yet to withdraw those benefits. A notification of the finance ministry Tuesday said that implementation of increased customs duty on specified imports originating in the US has been postponed from May 16 to June 16 this year.

India wants US to exempt them from the high duty imposed on certain steel and aluminium products, provide greater market access for agriculture, automobile, automobile components and engineering sector products. On the other hand, the US is demanding greater market access through a cut in import duties for its agriculture goods, dairy products, medical devices, IT and communication items. The US President has repeatedly claimed that India is a "tariff king" and imposes "tremendously high" tariffs on American products.

As part of the imposition of higher import duties, India has notified higher tariffs on several products. While import duty on walnut has been hiked to 120 per cent from 30 per cent, duty on chickpeas, Bengal gram (chana) and masur dal will be raised to 70 per cent, from 30 per cent currently. Levy on lentils will be increased to 40 per cent. India's exports to the US in 2017-18 stood at USD 47.9 billion, while imports were at USD 26.7 billion. The trade balance is in favour of India.

(With inputs from agencies.)