The India-Australia interim trade deal is set to kick off later this month.

India’s Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs recently notified the rules of origin related to the eligibility requirement to claim preferential customs duty on trade in goods under the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, which will come into effect from December 29 this year. The rules will also come into effect on that date.

Called the Customs Tariff (Determination of Origin of Goods under the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement) Rules, 2022, the notification by the CBIC lays out the origin criteria based on which the product would be eligible for the preferential customs duty.

The ECTA was signed in April this year and is expected to cover 90 per cent of bilateral trade. India will benefit from preferential market access provided by Australia on cent per cent of its tariff lines.

India will offer preferential access to Australia on over 70 per cent of its tariff lines, including lines of export interest to Australia which are primarily raw materials and intermediaries such as coal, mineral ores and wines.

“Once the tariff notification is rolled out for the ECTA, Indian businesses need to evaluate the benefit extended on the inbound and outbound trade from the perspective of supply chain optimisation and enhanced access to a new market, covering a large cross section of goods or sectors,” said PwC in a note.

Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India and India is Australia’s 9th largest trading partner.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)