Industrial tariff cuts on applied rates not agreeable: Nath

India has made it clear that it would not succumb to developed countries' pressure to have an industrial tariff reduction formula on the basis of actual applied rates rather than bound rates in the WTO negotiations.

"India is determined to counter any attempt to use applied rates as the base for application of a tariff reduction formula," the commerce minister Mr Kamal Nath said here at a workshop on non-agricultural market access.

In the WTO, countries bind tariffs at rates above which they commit not to raise duties. Applied rates are the rates of import duty that are actually applied and are generally lower than the bound rates.

Mr Nath said the July framework agreement provided for some flexibilities for developing countries either by not undertaking formula cuts on certain tariff lines or keeping certain number of tariff lines unbound. "India would use these flexibilities for those sections of industry where there are domestic sensitivities," he added.

Mr Nath said India has been reducing industrial tariffs autonomously and would continue to do so at its own pace. The minister also ruled out the Swiss formula put forward by the developed countries which stipulates steep tariff cuts by countries which have higher tariffs. As most developing countries including India have higher tariffs, the Swiss formula would affect them adversely.