India-UAE CEPA: New Delhi to flag concerns over silver import rules

A team of Indian government officials will travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next week to discuss rules related to the import of silver from the West Asian nation, given the increase in imports of the white metal after the trade deal was signed between both the countries.

“We have a joint trade committee, which works on these issues. Specific issues are taken up under the joint committee. Next week they have meetings in the UAE for which our team is leaving very soon,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters on Monday.

Goyal also said that he has already discussed the issue with his UAE counterpart Thani Al Zeyoudi. “UAE has assured that there will be nothing that will hurt India’s trade and business interest,” he added.

 

New Delhi has been particularly concerned about the value-addition norms pertaining to these imports and will seek their view on the rules of origins while exporting these items.

India signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the UAE in February 2022, which came into force the same year in May. Under the agreement, the import duty on silver currently stands at 8 per cent. As a part of the agreement, India has committed to gradually taper the duty to zero within the next eight years.

Silver imports from the UAE saw a 5,853 per cent rise to $1.74 billion from only $29 million during FY24. The rise was mainly due to the tariff concessions that were agreed upon under the trade agreement.

Goyal co-chaired the 12th meeting of the India-UAE high-level joint task force on investments along with Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, MD of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), where issues related to investments from both sides, as well as specific challenges faced by companies from both countries, were discussed.

The meeting reviewed UAE investments in Indian infrastructure assets. Both sides also discussed existing and future investments and projects of UAE entities in key sectors of the Indian economy, including energy, artificial intelligence (AI), logistics, food and agriculture, which are worth $100 billion.

Established in 2013, the task force aims to promote trade, investment and economic ties between India and the UAE, while also acting as a forum to resolve issues faced by investors of the two countries.

The upcoming meeting assumes significance, considering that the UAE is India’s third-largest trade partner. The country is also India’s third-largest export market. During the first four months of the current financial year (April-July), India exported goods worth $11.45 billion to the UAE, and imported goods worth $31 billion from that country.

According to an official statement, over the last two years, the “CEPA has helped reduce tariffs on majority of product lines, sought to address other barriers to trade, and created new avenues for cooperation”.