Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal doubled down in his assurances to the public, as he addressed a press conference on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, both India and the United States published a joint statement on the terms of the renewed bilateral framework, following which Goyal confirmed that the US would slash reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent.
However, the commerce minister went into more detail on the framework of the expected pact in his statement to the press later in the afternoon. Here are a few of them:
➤ India has not given any duty concessions on any dairy product, sugar, or millets to the US.
➤ Certain fruits, vegetables, tea, and coffee to attract zero reciprocal tariff in the US.
➤ Several Indian goods, including agricultural goods, are to attract zero reciprocal tariff in the US.
➤ Silk products have also been brought under zero duty in the US.
➤ The trade pact with the US will not hurt the interests of farmers, MSMEs, handicrafts, and handlooms.
➤ All products on which we are "Aatma Nirbhar" are kept out of the agreement.
➤ No genetically modified (GM) products to be allowed into India
➤ No concession on staples such as wheat, maize, rice, millets, and ragi coming to India. Kabuli chana will also not receive any relief.
➤ No concession on fruits that are grown in abundance like banana, citrus, and others coming to India
➤ No concession on meat, poultry, dairy products, soybean, sugar, and cereals coming to India.
➤ Concessions on several imported computer-related products under the new India-US trade pact.
➤ Certain US products, including Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS), and select wines and spirits, to enter India with zero duty.
➤ Quota-based duty concessions on apples from the US with minimum import price set at Rs 80 per kg.
➤ Quota-based duty concessions for soybean oil to the US.
➤ India to get duty-free access in certain auto, aircraft parts in US under trade pact.
➤ Critical ICT products from the US, including NVIDIA chips, AI equipment, and data centre components to come to India. This will aid India to compete globally in advanced technology sectors.
“This deal will provide a huge opportunity to take India’s economy forward at a faster pace,” said the Union Minister. Earlier, Goyal had stated that the India-US trade pact would open the $30 trillion American market for Indian exporters.
This article was composed live during the press conference. For detailed articles, check out our India-US coverage.