Acma condemns Nama draft text

CII, Ficci and Assocham has already sent of letters to World Trade Organisation (WTO) director general  Pascal Lamy, conveying the concerns of the Indian industry.

"The Auto-Component industry feels that such proposals trample on the economic aspirations of millions of industrial workers in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the component industry. Sensitivity cannot be a factor of pick and choose and such proposals merely turn the development dimension of the Doha Round on its head," an ACMA release said.

The sudden outburst of Indian industry is seen as an attempt to ensure that the sensitive sectors like auto-components, textiles, leather and chemicals get adequate protection. While protection of agriculture related issues are high on the agenda of India due to political reasons, the industry wants to ensure that in the ministerial meeting, its concerns are also taken in to consideration by political leaders, including Commerce Minister Kamal Nath.

Sources in the know of the talks said that most of the contentious issues in the Nama draft have been resolved as South Africa and Latin American economic bloc Mercosur will get carve-outs in the deal. According to experts, only market left for developed countries to tap is India, and proposals on anti-concentration and sectoral initiatives, which were incorporated in the latest Nama text, is a means to achieve that objective.

Anti concentration restricts flexiblities (protection measures) for developing countries like India. The provision will not allow India to take the intended protection  in a particular sector. In other words, sensitive tariff industrial goods that would not be subject to duty  reduction cannot be concentrated in one particular sector.

More over, the current Nama draft text proposes that India (and other developing countries), will have to undertake duty cuts in certain industrial goods through "sectoral" initiatives, to be eligible for more protection to its overall industrial sector.

"By agreeing to more liberal formula coefficients in lieu of participation in sectorals, the Nama chairman has clearly given in to the pressure of developed countries. We fail to understand as to how a supplementary modality like the sectoral initiative could be linked to the core modality of formula coefficients," the ACMA release added.