India to take up import restrictions with Argentina: Rahul Khullar

NEW DELHI: India will take up with Argentina the import restrictions imposed by it, as they have implications on the country's shipments to the Latin American nation, a top Commerce Ministry official said.

The Argentinian government in Februaury imposed trade restrictions under which importers will have to take government's permission before importing any product from any country, including India.

"That is being taken up. They have imposed some blanket type of restrictions on all imports. We are looking at whether we have to see its legality vis-a-vis WTO obligations," Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar told reporters here.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (Fieo) President Rafeeq Ahmed said that this move would impact bilateral trade.

Ahmed said under WTO norms, a country can take such a step on the ground of collecting data or traceability of imports, but the respective government has to give its permission within a specified time period.

"However, the Argentinian government is taking a long time to give its permission ... Indian exporters have complained that their consignments have come to a standstill and they are stranded with huge stock of goods produced specially for that country with logo of buyers - so cannot sell elsewhere. Our buyers are very keen to buy, but not getting permission," he added.

In 2010-11, India's exports to the Latin American country stood at USD 398 million, imports were aggregated at USD 1.02 billion.

India mainly exports chemicals, machinery, auto parts, plastics, pharmaceutical and iron and steel to Argentina.