India notifies imports of 30K tonne crude soya oil from Paraguay

India on Monday notified imports of 30,000 tonnes of crude soya oil from Paraguay at concessional customs duty rate of 10 per cent under a trade agreement. "TRQ (tariff rate quota) quota for import of 30,000 tonnes of crude soya oil from Paraguay under India-Mercosur trade agreement is notified," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notice.

TRQ is a quota for a specified volume of exports that enter India at relatively low import duty. After the quota is reached, a higher tariff applies to additional imports. India has a preferential trade agreement with MERCOSUR, a six-country trade bloc, including Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The pact came into existence from June 2009.

India's bilateral trade with MERCOSUR was USD 10 billion in 2015-16 as compared to USD 14.24 billion in 2014-15. Under the pact, both the sides have reduced or eliminated customs duties on a certain number of goods traded between them.

India and the bloc are discussing ways to enhance the scope of this agreement to further boost trade ties.