India-UK trade deal: British cars get cheaper but Scotch has to wait
The India-UK trade agreement has led to price reductions for British-made cars in India, but consumers will have to wait for similar cuts on imported spirits like Scotch and Gin. Bureaucratic delays in state excise departments and potential local tax hikes may offset the benefits of the tariff reductions.
Why it matters
It illustrates the complexities of international trade deals where national-level tariff cuts are often complicated by local regulatory and tax environments.
NEW DELHI: British car majors, including JLR and McLaren, have announced steep reductions in prices as the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) kicked on Wednesday. But your bottle of Scotch and Gin, as well as blended India-made whisky, will take time to get cheaper, with the filing and clearances from state excise departments expected to take at least a month.In any case the price cuts will be Rs 350-400 a bottle in case of imported blended whisky that costs around Rs 3,000, while for Indian-made blended whisky, known as IMFL in trade parlance, reduction may be by Rs 50-60 a bottle, unless companies decide to pocket the benefit and improve their margins.
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