The Government of India’s consistent push to promote domestic electronic industry’s manufacturing capabilities faced a slight dent due to the recent adverse judgement from the WTO. The judgement held that India’s import duty measures were inconsistent with its commitments & obligations under the WTO Agreements. The complainant’s (EU and several other countries) viewpoint was that India had breached the bound rates under the Schedule of concessions by imposing the disputed custom duties on imports of certain electronic goods. However, India maintained that bound rates in the Schedule were not applicable to the products in question as those products were not in existence at the time of India’s commitments, and they got included in India’s commitment by an inadvertent oversight. Although the arguments advanced were insightful & contained merit, the Panel was of the view that India’s primary obligations stem from her WTO Agreements and not from the commitments under the ITA which formed the fulcrum of India’s arguments. While the industry may face headwinds in the short term, the government will find alternative measures to keep the electronics industry competitive in the long term as envisioned.
Link: India loses the fight for electronic goods against EU at the WTO | Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys (lakshmisri.com)
Audio Source: An article published on the LKS website in June 2023
Authors: Rizwan Shah
Voice: Sanjhi Agarwal and Gaurav Tiwari