India and Australia have signed a trade and economic cooperation agreement
New Delhi:
India and Australia signed an economic cooperation and trade agreement on Saturday under which Canberra would grant duty-free access to its market to more than 95 percent of India’s goods, including textiles, leather, jewelry and sporting goods.
The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement was signed by Minister for Trade and Industry, Piyush Goyal and Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan, in a virtual ceremony, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart. Scott Morrison.
This is really a turning point for relations between India and Australia, said Mr Modi.
Morrison added that the pact will further deepen Australia’s close ties to India.
The agreement will help increase bilateral trade from $27 billion to $45-50 billion over the next five years, Goyal said.
Australia provides zero duty access to India from day one for approximately 96.4 percent of its exports (by value). This includes many products that are currently subject to 4-5 percent customs duty in Australia.
Labor-intensive sectors that would gain massively include textiles and clothing, few agricultural and fishery products, leather, footwear, furniture, sporting goods, jewelry, machinery, electrical appliances and rail cars.
Australia is India’s 17th largest trading partner while New Delhi is Canberra’s 9th largest partner. Bilateral trade in goods and services was $27.5 billion in 2021.
India’s goods exports were worth $6.9 billion and imports were $15.1 billion in 2021.
India’s major exports to Australia include petroleum products, textiles and clothing, engineering goods, leather, chemicals, and gemstones and jewelry.
Imports mainly include raw materials, coal, minerals and semi-finished products.
