03/11/2011 (The News International) -  The federal government has eliminated 233 tariff lines of Indian sensitive list under the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), bringing it down from 1,169 to 936 tariff lines, said a summary of the commerce ministry on Tuesday.

The importable items that have been excluded from the sensitive list include eatables, fruits, alcoholic beverages, woven fabric items and a number of machines and electronic items, showed documents available with The News.

Member countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have agreed to reduce their sensitive lists by at least 20 percent, the summary added.

The SAARC member states signed SAFTA during the 12th SAARC Summit at Islamabad in 2004.

Under the trade liberalisation programme, three countries—Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan—would reduce their tariff to 0-5 percent by 2013 whereas the least developed countries would reduce tariff to 0-5 percent by 2016.

The seven founding members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan joined the organisation in 2005.

The items that have been excluded from the list are fowl (whole, fresh or chilled, frozen, cuts, offal), milk, cream & milk, yogurt, buttermilk, cheese, potato, tomato, onion, garlic, pea, bean, leguminous vegetable, sweet corn, banana, guava, orange, mandarin, grapefruit, lemon, citrus fruit, grape, watermelon, melon, pear, cherry, peach, plum, strawberry, edible nuts, apricot, apple, dried fruit, wheat, starch, ground nut oil, sunflower seed & oil, cottonseed oil, low & high erucic acid rape, linseed oil, maize oil, sesame oil, animal fats & oil, refined sugar, palm hearts and ice & snow.

The other items are grape wines in containers holding two litres or less, fermented beverages, undenatured ethyl alcohol, Rum & Tafia, gin & geneva, vodka, brewery machinery and liqueurs, cigar, smoking tobacco and tobacco extract.

Other excluded items are cement clinker, portland & aluminous cement, sulphates of metal, Binapacryl, manicure, beauty or make-up preparation, pharmaceutical, footwear, polish, dextrin, match, mosquito coil, printing gum and electrical capacitor, Polylactic acid, film & sheet, shutter, apparel & clothing accessories, fittings for furniture , articles of plastics, retreated tyres for cars, lorries, buses, aircraft and bamboo.

The government has also excluded tablecloth, household & hospital supplies, woven fabrics of synthetic filament, plain weave, twill weave and woven stable of unbleached, bleached, artificial and yarns, floor covering, woven fabrics of metals, ski suit, parts of garments, ceramics laboratory ware, drill pipe and casing and tubing for oil & gas.

The importable items excluded from the sensitive list also include tank casks drums, containers for CNG or LPG, screw, rivet, cotter, spring, stove & heater, pipe & tube, mechanical appliance, self-propelled truck, machinery for sugar, spindle, reed for looms, kneading machine, mechanical seal, electric heating element for refrigerators, telephone set, sound & video recording and transmission apparatus.