New Delhi, May 12 (KNN) India's export of cotton t-shirts, leather articles of apparel, cotton blouses, articles of jewellery and footwear from European Union will no longer be eligible for import duty concessions under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).
 
A very important instrument of the European Union trade policy is its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) for developing countries. Under this system, the EU allows imports from developing countries at a 0 rate or at a reduced import duty rate compared to developed economies.
 
The EU, which was the first to implement a GSP scheme in 1971, has revised its import preference scheme for developing countries from 1 January 2014. The new scheme focusses on fewer beneficiaries (88 countries compared to 178 beneficiaries previously) to ensure more impact on countries most in need, according to an official release.
 
India is the largest beneficiary of EU's GSP Scheme with preferential imports worth Euro 17.72 billion entering the EU market in 2011.  India continues to be a beneficiary of the Scheme after the 2014 revision but with a reduced number of beneficiary sectors.  For instance, some of the sectors such as mineral products, chemicals, raw hides and skins and leather, textiles and road vehicles no longer enjoy GSP benefits. This reflects India's high competitiveness of an increasing number of sectors which do not need the EU unilateral support anymore. (KNN Bureau)