Duties cut on SAFTA imports
New Delhi: The Government of India has slashed tariffs under the agreed phased trade liberalisation programme (TLP) of the agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA). The Finance Ministry has with effect from July 1 reduced customs duties on imports of items under nearly 380 tariff lines from Pakistan and Sri Lanka (non-least developed contracting states).

The level of duty for these items ranges from five per cent to 117.5 per cent. A similar measure has been taken in respect of items under these 380 tariff lines for imports from the least developed contracting (LDC) States of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, and Nepal. The duty ranges from five per cent to 100 per cent.

The items that have seen a cut in customs duties include motorcars, motorcycles, golf carts, pharmaceutical products, fertilisers, paints, routers, modems, iron and steel, a host of textile items, certain edible vegetables, cut flowers, cocoa and cocoa preparations, and lactose, maltose and sugar syrup. For new motorcars imported in completely knocked down (CKD) form, the customs duty has been pegged at 12.5 per cent for imports from Sri Lanka and Pakistan and 10 per cent from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, and Nepal.

However, imports of new motorcars in any other form from Pakistan and Sri Lanka would attract 50 per cent Customs duty and 40 per cent in respect of imports from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal. While a CKD version would attract 12.5 per cent customs duty for imports from Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the duty would be 10 per cent for imports from the LDC States. Motorcycle imports in any other form would attract duty of 50 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively.

Among the items placed in the sensitive list in respect of non-LDCs are skimmed milk, whole milk, cauliflower, carrots and turnips, sweet corn, oranges, onions, green tea, black tea, durum wheat of seed quality, soyabean of seed quality, crude groundnut oil, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and fuel oil, liquefied petroleum gas, toothpaste and toothpowder, household and laundry soap, carpets, bangles, imitation jewellery, retread tyres, tiles, colour TVs, set-top boxes, and voltage stabilisers.

Items placed under the sensitive list for LDCs include fresh onions, arecanut, lemon, chilly, poppy, wheat, flakes, groundnut seeds, refined palmoil/palmolein, edible grade groundnut oil, naphtha, ATF and fuel oil, retread tyres, colour TVs, and set-top boxes.

As per the TLP under SAFTA agreement, in two years from the date of coming into force of the agreement, the non-LDCs - India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka - would bring down tariffs to 20 per cent, while LDCs would have to bring them down to 30 per cent.
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PM assures shares to NLC staff
New Delhi: The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has said the government will offer all employees of Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) substantial amount of shares on preferential allotment basis as and when the Government sells 10 per cent stake in the company. He did not specify the exact percentage of shares to be allotted to the employees. The PM's assurance comes in response to a request from the DMK chief and Tamil Nadu chief minister, M. Karunanidhi, for allocation of shares to the company's employees. Neyveli Lignite employees however failed to be placated and have given a call for indefinite strike from Tuesday.

On June 22, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved selling of 10 per cent stake in Neyveli and Nalco. Post disinvestments, the Government's holding will stand as 83.56 per cent in Neyveli Lignite and 77.15 per cent in Nalco.

Based on the current price of the companies' shares on the stock exchanges, the Government expects to raise around Rs1,100 crore from the sale of NLC and around Rs2,000 crore from the sale of Nalco. The Prime Minister's offer to NLC employees is expected to lead to similar demands from employees in other disinvested companies such as Balco, and VSNL and also in Nalco. NLC shares closed at Rs61.65 today on the BSE and National Stock Exchange.
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SAIL plans to select dealers based on SC/ST quota
New Delhi: The Ministry of Steel has decided select its dealers on the quota system. The Minister for Steel, Ram Vilas Paswan, has directed SAIL to implement the quota system for members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; the company is currently in the process of appointing one dealer each in every district of the country.

SAIL short-listed 200 dealers in 2005-06 though the quota was not taken into consideration during that selection process. SAIL will finalise names for another 350 dealers by August-end and the quota system would be implemented, officials said.
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EU tightens conditions on import of basmati rice
New Delhi: The European Union (EU) has mandated all duty-free basmati rice shipments from India to be accompanied by DNA analysis-based `authenticity certificates'. The new regulation would take effect from July 1.

Currently, brown (husked) rice entering EU attracts a general import duty of 42.5 per tonne. For basmati exported from India and Pakistan, there is a duty `derogation' (concession) of 65 which means effectively nil rate of duty. The underlying logic in this case is that basmati, being a premium variety (similar to Scotch whiskey), does not compete with normal rice and hence will not threaten the interests of European farmers.

The latest regulation issued by the European Commission requires that future shipments have to be officially certified as basmati in order to be eligible for zero import duty. And that means furnishing "a product authenticity certificate issued by a competent body in the exporting country. For India, the `competent body' would be the Export Inspection Council (EIC) in the Ministry of Commerce, while in Pakistan it is the Trading Corporation of Pakistan Ltd.

EU member countries can now conduct random checks on consignments and send samples for DNA-based variety testing to their laboratories. There would be no duty derogation "if the results show that the product does not correspond to what is indicated in the authenticity certificate.
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