Beyond Borders - The Customs and International Trade (C&IT) Journal | December 2019

BDO in India presents Beyond Borders - The Customs & International Trade Journal. The bi- monthly issue of the C&IT journal covers recent developments in the world of Customs & Foreign Trade in India, current global & trends and insights on recent case developments in the space.

Cover story on India’s Export Incentive Scheme(s) conundrum – the WTO story

Various Export Incentive Schemes are given by the Indian Government to Indian exporters and such schemes are typically declared by most other countries to incentivise exports. However, WTO prohibits certain subsidies and to establish a uniform definition of prohibited subsidies and any exceptions thereof, member countries of WTO have entered into Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (“SCM”). In this context, the US opined that India is engaged in providing certain prohibited subsidies to its exporter. The matter was placed before the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) and the DSB Panel concluded that some of the export promotion schemes in vogue in India violated WTO mandate. This opens-up necessity for Indian exporters to carefully evaluate the impact of panel report on their businesses. The slated renewal of FTP could be used as an opportunity to design a WTO compliant export incentive scheme.

Read more on how the panel settled this dispute and the conclusions drawn.

We hope you have an insightful read.