Joint statement on US trade deal soon, pact may be signed mid-March: Goyal

NEW DELHI: The first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) between India and the US is nearly ready to be rolled out, with a joint statement expected to be issued within the next 4-5 days, which will pave the way for reducing US tariffs on Indian goods to 18%, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said Thursday.The minister said that the framework of the BTA is likely to be signed in March. India will begin the duty cuts, including phased reduction for certain goods, once the agreement is implemented.Deal doesn’t involve new investment pledges: Goyal"Their tariffs are executive tariffs. Our tariffs are MFN tariffs (rates applicable to countries with which concessional or FTA rates have not been worked out). So MFN tariff reduction can only take place after the legal agreement is signed, but we hope to do it fast,” commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal said.Clarifying speculation around investment commitments by India, Piyush Goyal said the agreement does not involve fresh investment pledges, instead it is the trade and sourcing from the US aligned with India’s growth needs in the coming years.“The fast-paced growth at which India is going ahead… we will need large volumes of energy. We will need large numbers of data centre equipment, ICT products. Our steel capacity is going to double from today’s 140 million tonnes to about 300 million tonnes in the next few years.

And, therefore, when we estimated what we will need from the US, we came to a figure of at least $500 billion,” he said. The $500 billion imports will be spread over five years, and during this period, India’s exports are projected at around $2 trillion, official estimates showed.He said India’s aircraft orders alone, including engines and spares, could touch $100 billion, while rapid expansion of data centres, due to the concessions given in the Budget, could drive large imports of specialised equipment needed for those data centres.