Commerce
and Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has said that steps have been
taken to sort out the implementation issues related to CEPA and improve
bilateral trade as well as trade balance with Japan. Speaking at the seminar
on promoting India’s exports to Japan under India-Japan CEPA and release of RIS
report on India-Japan CEPA in New Delhi today she said Japan
is one of the closest and most reliable trade partners of India and we
recognise that Japan will play an increasingly important role in India’s
economic transformation and development.
Smt.Sitharaman said Hon’ble Prime Minister
of India, Shri Narendra Modi visited Japan in 2014 and it was occasioned by the
elevation of our bilateral partnership to the status of special
strategic and global partnership.She said India - Japan partnership has expanded over the past few years and
now the identified complementarities are being harnessed through trade and
investments to our mutual advantage.
The
Minister said the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement i.e.
CEPA between India and Japan came into force on 1st August, 2011 and
is one of the most comprehensive agreements concluded by India. She said
Bilateral trade between India and Japan pre-CEPA in 2010 was 10.4 USD billion
and currently in 2016 stands at 14.5 USD billion. However, trade deficit of
India with respect to Japan has also increased from 3.1 USD billion pre CEPA to
5.2 USD billion post CEPA
The
Minister said our concern is this increasing trade deficit between the two
countries. We must look at ways and means to address this skewed trade. We feel
that one of the best ways to address this concern is to increase our exports to
Japan. Smt. Sitharaman said the Japanese pharmaceutical market offers a huge
untapped potential for Indian pharma industry. India’s strength in Pharma
sector is well established. She said this coupled with the decision of
Government of Japan towards attaining an 80 % share of generic medicines by
2018, should naturally provide an opportunity for the internationally acclaimed
generic drug industry of India. However, the share of India in the Japanese
drug market continues to be below par and limited mostly to API’s. She said the
demand of generic medicine in Japanese market and capability of India to meet this
demand can prove a win-win situation for both countries.
The
Minister said to realise our true potential in trade, we also need to address
the implementation issues of CEPA .Citing an example she said:
a. Japan
accorded a preferential tariff of 1.9 % as against an MFN rate of 3.5 % to Fish
Surimi from India. However, as per the requirement to preserve the protein
content during storage, a negligible amount of an imported Cryo-protectant
called TSPP is applied to the fish.
b. Though
the value of the TSPP is less than half a per cent of the overall cost of the
product, the interpretation under rules of origin preclude it from availing the
CEPA benefits on the grounds that the ‘Product is not of Indian origin’.
c. In
this report, RIS has made a detailed analysis of such issues through extensive
research including consultations with various stakeholders and authorities both
in India as well as in Japan.
The Minister said with the strengthening bilateral
cooperation and cementing of the friendship between the two countries, our
trade and investments hold a promising future.
MJPS