The Hindu Business Line : Exporters facing trade barriers in EU markets: FICCI

NEW DELHI: Indian exporters are facing non- tariff barriers such as visa and consular issues in the lucrative European Union (EU) market in spite of growing bilateral trade with the 27-member economic bloc, a survey has said.

“In spite the growing bilateral trade volume, industry is unanimous in its opinion that there still exists a discrepancy between what is projected as an open and uniform regime and what is experienced by Indian companies during their real life interactio n with the EU,” the survey by FICCI said.

Exporters face cumbersome quality testing which increases the cost and time dimension of Indian companies, it said, adding that they are also facing the “adverse impact of huge amount of subsidies enjoyed by EU farmers through free seeds and fertilisers and a freight subsidy to producers.”

In addition, many mid-sized pharmaceutical companies have been severely hit due to the recent seizure of shipments at transit ports located in the EU, the chamber added.

“The main impediment in the expansion of services to the EU were visa and consular issues, non-clarity of taxation and cross border transaction laws as applicable to Indian service providers,” the survey said.

However, majority of the respondents also said EU is a very attractive market, owing to factors such as strategic location, wide consumer base, common visa regime. - PTI

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