War on inflation may bleed Customs

NEW DELHI: The Centre is planning to control inflation by reducing import tariffs on a number of sectors including ferrous and non-ferrous metals, cement and paper. According to commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath, cut in duties was called for to reduce supply pressures in the identified sectors.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the launch of the UNIDO Centre for South-South Industrial Cooperation, Mr Nath said that although inflation in some sectors has touched unacceptable levels, it was not a sign of overheating of the economy.

The minister said the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) was looking at the gaps responsible for rising inflation and was also collaborating with the ministry of finance to take corrective measures.

Earlier, delivering his inaugural address, Mr Nath offered to hold a meeting of 90 developing nations to discuss the impact of tariff reduction for manufactured goods under the WTO regime. The offer was accepted by UNIDO’s director general Kandeh Yumkella who was also present at the occasion.

Mr Nath reiterated that while the completion of the Doha round was important, the content of the round was of equal significance. He attacked multilateral agencies like the World Bank and IMF for coming up with ‘bizarre’ studies on ‘bizarre’ topics from time to time. “Developed countries had urged developing countries to take greater cuts on tariffs on industrial goods at Davos. We told them that developing countries would cut their tariffs by 10% less than what developed countries were willing to do. But we are yet to hear from them,” Mr Nath added.

Mr Yumkella said that UNIDO aims to promote public-private partnership, as this is one of the best ways to eradicate poverty. He said that the new centre can help Africa by creating partnerships which can provide resources and expertise to create value-added products.

The centre, which came up in just 10 months at New Delhi, will work in the areas of renewable energy, low cost housing, food processing, pharma and biotech, technical training and skill enhancement, and information technology applications in investment, trade and industry.

The centre is the first of its kind in the world and UNIDO is planning to start more of such centres in Brazil, South Africa and China. According to Yumkella, these centres would enhance cooperation between the developing countries to boost industrial sector by exchange of expertise and experience.