India and Australia sign Economic cooperation and trade agreement to boost economy.

Why in news?

• India’s Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and Australian Trade Minister signed India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (IndAus ECTA) in a virtual ceremony with the presence of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi and Australian PM Scott Morrison.
• The above agreement is set to provide zero-duty access to 96 per cent of India’s exports to Australia including shipments from key sectors such as engineering goods, gems and jewellery, textiles, apparel and leather.
• It also set to provide 85 per cent of Australia’s exports zero-duty access to the Indian market, including coal, sheep meat and wool, and lower duty access on Australian wines, almonds, lentils, and certain fruits.
• The bilateral trade was emphasised to raise the existing 27 billion USD to 45-50 billion USD in the upcoming 5 years.

About India & Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA)

• This is the first trade agreement that India has signed with a developed country after a decade.
• Also, India will be offering 70 percent of its tariff lines, which includes export interest of Australia such as raw materials and intermediaries such as coal, mineral ores and wines etc.
• Australian goods exports to India (valued at more than $12.6 billion a year), rising to almost 91 per cent (valued at $13.4 billion) over 10 years.
• Zero-duty access for Indian goods is set to be expanded to 100 per cent over five years under the agreement.
• Under the agreement, Indian graduates from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) will be granted extended post-study work visas.

Exports and Imports:

• ‘Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India, and New Delhi will be Canberra’s 9th largest partner.
• India’s goods exports worth United States Dollar (USD) 6.9 billion and imports aggregated to USD 15.1 billion in 2021. 2021 the bilateral trade in goods and services stood at USD 27.5 billion.