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Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the Customs duties of India are ‘very’ often misconstrued to be high on most items, raw materials, intermediates but in reality, the duties are very low. He said that the duties on technological items that are helping the Indian economy grow are very low. 

The minister said actual applied rates of tariffs are lower than the agreed bound rates at World Trade Organization (WTO ). He said that the trade and technology council (TTC) is helpful as it is supplementing the free trade agreement negotiations and the agreement will make India-EU relationship the defining partnership of the century.

Goyal also said that India is engaging with the EU on Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) as it is not the EU's intention to create a barrier to trade but to find a way forward towards sustainability as part of collective efforts. He stressed that India and the EU are working together to find the right solution to the CBAM issue. On the trade agreement with the EU, he said that the negotiations are progressing well.