Team-BHP - Top-end European cars may get cheaper

Skoda, Audi to gain most from EU deal.

" Skoda and Audi are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries of the government's move to allow the import of a specified number of cars at lower import duty under the proposed bilateral trade agreement with the European Union.
Government officials told TOI that negotiators led by commerce secretary Rahul Khullar will negotiate the concessional duty at which cars will be allowed under what is know as tariff rate quota (TRQs) in the trading community. "

Skoda, Audi to gain most from EU deal - The Economic Times

this is serious crap!!

they would allow imports at such low rates effecting the indian economy. i fail to see where is the benefit here?

if it is limited numbers of cars, then how would they decide on the price point? if they manage to import a car for let's say 10%, then what happens to the other cars of the same lot for which they have paid 114%? and how will it benefit the end consumer or the indian govt.?

the benefit it seems would go directly to the companies that are importing the vehicles.

makes me wonder why are the politicians and policy makers helping them out with no selfish motive of their own.

India set to allow cars from Europe at a cheaper rate

:Cheering:

Quote:

Source: TOI, Dated: Nov 12, 2012

NEW DELHI: Come 2017, you can hope to drive in the latest Audi or BMW at a considerably lower price as the government may lower the import duty to 30% by then and scale it down further to 20% in 2020 as part of the Broad-based Trade & Investment Agreement ( BTIA) with the 27-nation bloc.

In case of automobiles, when to reduce import duty to 30% is a bone of contention. EU is demanding that the levy be slashed to that level in 2017 itself, while Indian negotiators had got the Trade & Economic Relations Committee headed by the prime minister to agree to the cut sometime around 2022. The current tariff for import of automobiles is 100%, although the notified rate, which is applied to new cars, is 60%.

A reduction in customs duty is expected to be more beneficial for high-end cars, which are imported as completely built units given the low volumes. Smaller cars are usually manufactured locally using local parts although some components are imported. But there is a fear that several European carmakers who do not have manufacturing facilities in India may opt for the import route and would refrain from setting up plants here.

To hit local players

In case of automobiles, the deal will ensure that European carmakers will take pole position in the race for domestic sales as the government has ignored demands for a "level-playing field" for their Japanese and Korean rivals despite India having existing trade agreements with the two Asian manufacturing giants.

In fact, the two proposals go far beyond what was originally offered. Initially, the government had only offered to lower import duty on a specified number of vehicles. But subsequently, it seems to have agreed to an across-the-board reduction along with a cut in customs duty on around 65 auto parts and machinery.

In return, it has got EU to agree to phase out import duty on cars by 2020 and allow Indian textiles to enter the member countries on payment of concessional rate duty. Officials said a deal to boost export of Indian farm products such as banana, rice and sugar has also been clinched.

But when it comes to services, New Delhi cannot show significant gains. For instance, despite agreeing to send its team to certify that India is a "data secure country", a precursor to a better deal for local giants such as Infosys and Wipro, the assessment is yet to be done.

Similarly, when it comes to visa issues, there have been no gains yet as the European authorities are arguing that it is a sovereign issue dealt by individual states.

Its always good business to allow foreign imports. In the computer industry, as long as protectionism was on, we had house sized computers courtesy cdac, and nothing much more, once govt allowed imports, see where we are in terms of ipads and netbooks and what not.

Imagine mobile phones in India, if we didnt allow imported ones, may be we would have still been with something like a 6600!!!

Protectionism has bred incompetence like hindustan motors or premier for over 60 years, i am very glad we are getting rid of it, if even so slowly.

I agree somewhere that we need to have a roboust Indian manufacturing industry and allied component industry, the foundations are there as of today, so it seems only fair to remove artifical barriers such as import tarriffs and allow free competition and benifit the customer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by apachelongbow (Post 2959971)

we had house sized computers courtesy cdac, and nothing much more, once govt allowed imports, see where we are in terms of ipads and netbooks and what not.

I so it seems only fair to remove artifical barriers such as import tarriffs and allow free competition and benifit the customer.

Could'nt agree with you more. Its good news for the customer who will get better products at reasonable prices and Indian manufacturers who will need to pull up their socks to go that extra mile to serve the customer. :)