Two government officials said India is concerned about continued huge revenue losses and is expected to join the United States and Europe in seeking to extend a global ban on cross-border e-commerce tariffs at next week's World Trade Organization meeting. He said he would oppose the initiative.
India will make its case at the WTO ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi starting Monday, officials said. South Africa, Indonesia and South Africa all support allowing poor countries to tax cross-border electronic communications.
“These issues need to be discussed and resolved before seeking an extension of the suspension,” one of the officials said.
The officials declined to be named, in line with government policy regarding discussions in international forums. The Commerce Ministry, which is leading India's negotiations at the WTO, declined to comment.
In 2022, WTO members reached an agreement to extend the ban on fines on electronic transactions. Backed by powerful countries such as the US, UK and EU, they argue that allowing the deadline to expire would jeopardize the recovery of global e-commerce.
According to WTO estimates, developing countries lost more than US$10 billion in customs revenue from imports of e-commerce goods from rich countries in 2017, with India suffering a loss of nearly US$500 million.
