India to Address Silver Import Rules Concerns with UAE
Joint Working Group Meeting to Address Enforcement of Rules of Origin Following Surge in Imports
India Raises Concerns Over Silver Import Rules Under CEPA with UAE
India raised concerns regarding the enforcement of rules of origin for silver under the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership pact (CEPA) as its imports have surged following the implementation of the trade pact. Next week, during the joint working group meeting, the matter will be discussed.
“We have a joint trade committee, which is working on these issues. Specific issues are being taken up. They are going to hold meetings in the UAE next week, for which our team will leave very soon,” said Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who heads silver imports from the UAE. In response to a question about India’s concerns about the rules.
The minister was addressing the 12th India-UAE Joint High Level Task Force (HLTF) on Investments along with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) MD Sheikh Hamad bin Saeed Al Nahyan.
The co-leaders agreed to a rapid increase in bilateral trade under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which comes into force in May 2022.
“As a result of this agreement, bilateral trade has continued to rise, with non-oil trade reaching $28.2 billion in the first half of 2024, an increase of 9.8 percent year-on-year. The agreement has also spurred FDI – making the UAE India’s fourth largest foreign investor by 2023. It has $3.35 billion across a wide range of sectors, representing a three-fold increase by 2022,” the report added.
Indian FDI in UAE in 2023 will total $2.05 billion over 2021 and 2022.
ROO Activation:
The Minister said that he had already discussed with his UAE colleague and counterpart, Thani Al Sheo, the implementation of ROO (Rules of Origin) on silver, which would set the minimum value addition required for exports at concessional rates.
“UAE has assured that there will be nothing to affect India’s trade and business interests,” he said.
Silver imports from UAE rose 5853 percent to $1.74 billion in FY24.
Subsequently, to check imports from the UAE, the government reduced import duties on gold and silver from 15 per cent to 6 per cent on MFN basis for all countries (as the UAE enjoyed a concessional duty of 8 per cent). However, India feels the need to tighten import rules under CEPA as tariffs will be reduced to zero in 10 years.
The minister said that India and the UAE are working on linking two national payment platforms – UPI (India) and AANI (UAE) – to facilitate seamless cross-border transactions between the two countries.
