Commerce ministry developing platform for registration, resolution of NTB's

According to a senior official, the commerce ministry is developing a platform to register non-tariff barriers (NTBs) faced by exporters and address these issues with the concerned countries. There is a significant information gap on these barriers, particularly for small items. "We are creating a portal to prioritize all NTBs. Traders will register their complaints, and the ministry will take up those issues," the official said. Cases where barriers impact a large volume of goods will be prioritized for resolution. The economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) has reported that India needs to act swiftly to remove NTBs affecting domestic exporters in countries like the US, China, and Japan to achieve an export target of US$ 1 trillion for goods by 2030. GTRI suggests upgrading domestic systems for quality rejections and retaliating against unreasonable standards or rules obstructing exports.

GTRI Co-founder Mr. Ajay Srivastava stated that many of India's exports suffer due to time-consuming prior registration requirements and unreasonable domestic standards/rules in many countries. He emphasized that "India must engage with partner countries for reasonable solutions." Many of India's food and agriculture products face issues due to higher pesticide levels, pests, and contamination from foot and mouth disease. Indian exports are far below potential as they face NTBs in the EU, US, China, Japan, Korea, and other countries. Key Indian exports routinely facing high barriers include chilies, tea, basmati rice, milk, poultry, bovine meat, and fish to the EU; sesame seed, black tiger shrimps, medicines, and apparel to Japan; food, meat, fish, dairy, and industrial products to China; shrimps to the US; and bovine meat to South Korea. Other products facing barriers include ceramic tiles in Egypt, chilli in Mexico, medicines in Argentina, and various goods in Brazil and Russia. NTBs arise when non-tariff measures (NTMs) designed to protect health and the environment become arbitrary and lack scientific justification.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.