India:Specific duties on textiles import from Pak, Bangladesh likely to go

Removal of specific duties on textile imports from Pakistan and Bangladesh will be discussed by the Trade and Economic Relations Committee (TERC) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Wednesday.

Textiles and clothing, jute, fruits and dry fruit imports from Pakistan and Bangladesh would be cheaper as they would be replaced with simple duties due to this move.

Under the present rates, specific duty is assessed on the basis of units of quantity (per piece) or weight, which generally turns out costly for which Islamabad was requesting New Delhi for quite some time.

Currently, Pakistani imports are charged Rs 25 to Rs 125 per piece of specific import duty while a flat rate of upto 15 percent is mooted under simple duty structure.

This will help reduce costs on 271 categories of textiles and clothing items imported from Pakistan under the new simple duty structure.