Australia India Business Council Special Meeting with Abhinav Bhatia TIQ commissioner Highlight on ECTA

From News Desk Australia

India News: A very informative and thought provoking forum organized by the Australia India Business Council in Queensland brought community leaders and heads of various businesses together to discuss the current position of India and Australia bilateral relation.

Trade & Investment Queensland (TIQ) partnered with AIBC for a series of three regional roadshows from 27-29 March to promote opportunities from ECTA for businesses in Cairns, Townsville and the Gold Coast.

AIBC Queensland Chapter President, Nik Senapati, traveled along with panellists, Abhinav Bhatia, TIQ’s Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, South Asia and Frances Lisson, Chief Negotiator AI-ECTA, DFAT to all three roadshows. A special session was hosted in Brisbane for the members of the business community in Brisbane which happened on 3 April 2023.

At the special session in Brisbane, Abhinav Bhatia of TIQ highlighted several success stories facilitated by TIQ in the Australia-India corridor across industries such as mining and related services, IT, skincare, health and sportstech. Trade and Investment Queensland Commissioner Abhinav Bhatia presented the current position of India related to ECTA agreement. He highlighted that India has largest younger population and that is the advantage India has for foreign investments and markets. He highlighted thst mobile phones industries are thriving on this factor.

He also said that India’s individual states alone in terms of market growth either overtakes or is similar to various south Asian countries. He referred to the India map created which showed Maharashtra similar to Singapore in terms of market growth. He also Highlighted that the current ECTA agreement highlights few product that have no restrictions while others are reduced tariff and yet others will be further included in the future. Wine is one of them that is in the list, Wine has reduction of 150% tariff over 9 years for bottles over import prices of US$5 and US$15 and guaranteed best market access by India in any future FTA. Fruit and vegetables, will undergo elimination of tariffs over 6 years specifically for avocados, onions, cherries and berries. Reduction of tariffs over 6 years for apricots and strawberries. For oranges, mandarins and pears, immediate 50% tariff reduction for in-quota exports.