India-Australia FTA coming into effect from tomorrow. 10 points

The India-Australia FTA, signed on 2 April, will provide duty-free access to over 6,000 Indian exporters across a wide range of sectors, including textiles, leather, furniture, jewelery and machinery to the Australian market.

Labor-intensive sectors such as textiles and apparel, some agricultural and fish products, leather, footwear, furniture, sporting goods, jewellery, machinery and electrical goods will benefit significantly.

The key points of this bilateral FTA are:

• Under the agreement, Australia provides duty-free access to India for approximately 96.4% of its exports (in value terms) from day one.
• Tariffs on 85% of Australian exports to India will be eliminated, and high tariffs on a further 5% of goods will be phased out.
• The Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) will save Australian exporters around $2 billion in annual tariffs, while consumers and businesses will save around $500 million in tariffs on imports of finished goods and “inputs to the manufacturing sector”. Saves you dollars.
• The tariff commitments India provided in the deal would open up access to Australian exporters of products such as vital minerals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, lentils, seafood, mutton, horticulture and wine, it said.
• Australian service suppliers are reported to benefit from full or partial access across over 85 service sectors and subsectors in India.
• ECTA will also support tourism and workforce needs in rural Australia by making 1,000 work and holiday program locations available to young Indians.
• The agreement maintains the opportunity for Indian students graduating in Australia to undertake post-study work, with a one-year residency bonus for high performing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) graduates. provide.
• Tariff advantages under India-Australia Free Trade Agreement will help Indian apparel exporters gain greater market access in the country compared to their competitors
• India’s exports of ready-made garments to Australia have grown by an average of 11.84% over the last five years. With this growth trend and the signing of the agreement, AEPC believes exports to Australia will triple by 2025.
• In 2021-2022, India’s merchandise exports to Australia will reach $8.3 billion and imports from the country will reach $16.75 billion.