From May 1, India and UAE’s Free Trade Agreement has come into effect which will help domestic exporters in various sectors like agriculture, textile, dry fruits, gems and jewellery to get duty-free access to the UAE market.
On Sunday, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued notification for the operationalisation of the agreement.
The Commerce Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam handed over the Certificate of Origin to three exporters from the gem and jewellery sector in Delhi as a gesture for operationalising the agreement. He said, “Today, CEPA between India and the UAE is coming into force. Today, we are sending the first consignment from India to UAE, which will benefit from this agreement”.
In five years, the two-way trade will increase from USD 60 billion to USD 100 billion through the trade pact.
India is likely to benefit from preferential market access provided by the UAE for more than 97% of its tariff line which accounts for 99% of Indian exports to the UAE in value terms. Especially from labour-intensive sectors like textile, leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture and engineering products.
The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement will not attract any customs duty under the pact for the consignments exported to Dubai.
