As regards passenger cars, additional duty and special additional duty are applicable in lieu of domestic taxes.
Does India envisage using its very best endeavours to secure the inclusion of all goods and services in the proposed GST? Are a mechanism and timeline foreseen to extend coverage to commodities which may be initially excluded, such as alcoholic beverages?
Imported wines and spirits face 28 different state markets within India, each with different internal tax structures. A variety of discriminatory tax and other non fiscal measures imposed by state governments continue to compound the market access problems created by the 150% customs duties applied to these products. These state measures have been raised in WTO Consultations requested by the EU under the WTO dispute settlement case (case DS380). Dispute settlement consultations were requested in 2008 and took place in four rounds; they have resulted in some improvements, although the discriminatory measures implemented by state governments continue to seriously impair access to the state markets concerned. New forms of discrimination are regularly proposed by different states.
Reply: Since India is a federal country, the design and structure of GST has to be finalised by consensus on the basis of discussions between the Centre and the States. These discussions are currently underway.
What commitments can India make to ensure that Indian states finally bring their practices into conformity with India's WTO obligations?
Reply: As acknowledged by the EU, several state governments have taken steps to rationalise the taxation of wines and spirits. The Central Government continues to work with the state governments as regards the taxation of imported wines and spirits.
WTO Secretariat's Report, page 57, para. 63
India maintains import quotas for marble and similar stones (HS 2515.11.00, 2515.12.10, 2515.12.20, and 2515.12.90) which are administered through a system of import licenses. The recent notification No. 64 (RE 2010)/2009 2014 of India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry (4 August 2011) establishes a set of conditions related to the import of rough marble blocks for the financial year 2011 12. Amongst others, import licenses are subject to a minimum import price of US$ 325 per Metric Tonne of rough marble blocks.
Could India explain the reasoning behind the maintenance of import quotas for marble and similar stones and the established minimum import price?
