Thursday, September 15 2005 15:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Government might remove specific duties on a large number of textile items from Pakistan and Bangladesh as part of a move to give these countries greater access to the Indian market.

A proposal recommending removal of specific duties on about 60-70 per cent of 271 textile tariff lines and their replacement by simple duty is likely to go for the approval to the Prime Minister's Trade and Economic Relations Committee next week, official sources told in New Delhi.

As a result of this move, import duties on these items would be lesser as specific duty, which is assessed on the basis of some unit of measurement such as quantity (per piece) or weight, usually turns out to be higher and New Delhi has been under pressure from Islamabad and Dhaka for sometime for their removal.

The specific duty on certain textiles item ranges from Rs 25 to Rs 125 per piece, whereas a simple duty would entail flat rate of up to 15 per cent.

Earlier, TERC at its meeting on August 10 had asked Textiles and Commerce Ministries to prepare a roadmap for replacing specific duties with simple duties. Both the Ministries have after deliberations mooted this proposal.

The committee might also discuss the issue of removal of specific duties on jute, fruits and dry fruits from these countries.

Under the ongoing WTO negotiations on industrial tariffs, all the specific duties would have to be converted to their ad-valorem equivalents.

The Government, however, wants these specific duties replaced in the context of SAARC, with the South Asian Free Trade Agreement coming into operation from January one, 2006.

According to Islamabad and Dhaka, India, which enjoyed trade balance in its favor, should not have a problem in taking the measure.

However, domestic textile industry, has been strongly opposing such a move as it feels it would lead to a huge spurt in imports from neighboring countries.