India will ask the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for a reasonable time frame of eight years to phase out its export subsidies as the country has breached an income threshold stipulated by the multilateral body to end such sops.
According to the special and differential provisions in the WTO’s Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures when a member’s per capita gross national income (GNI) exceeds $1,000 per annum (at the 1990 exchange rate) for a third straight year it has to phase out its export subsidies.
According to the WTO data India crossed the per-capita GNI threshold in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The 2015 figures, released by the WTO recently, revealed India’s per capita GNI rose to $1,178 in 2015 from $1,051 in 2013.
But the WTO’s agreement does not specify the time frame of ending such subsidies.
