The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology convened on April 9, 2025 to examine the evolving implications of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) in the context of the digital age (new-age). The sitting feature detailed presentations and expert evidence from key government ministries and industry bodies.
As per the agenda, representatives from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Department of Telecommunications under the Ministry of Communications, the Department of Commerce, the Ministry of External Affairs (Legal and Treaties Division), the Centre for Trade and Investment Law (CTIL), the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), and the Academy of Business Studies presented their views on the “Impact of the Information Technology Agreement in the New-Age.”
ITA carries a significant impact, particularly regarding trade in IT products, digital industrial policy, and the need for flexibility in applying tariffs to regulate imports.
It is to be noted that India is a signatory to the ITA (now also known as ITA-1), a plurilateral agreement of WTO. As on date, there are altogether 75 member signatories, including 27 EU member countries, accounting for about 97 percent of the world trade in Information Technology (IT) products. India joined the ITA on March 25, 1997.
As per government records, some of the developed country members of the ITA recently – USA, European Union and Japan- have again proposed in the ITA Committee meetings to broaden the scope and coverage of the ITA (it is being referred as ITA-2). These proposals basically relate to increasing the coverage of IT products on which customs duty would be bound at zero; addressing non-tariff measures; and expanding the number of signatory countries to include new signatories such as Argentina, Brazil and South Africa.
Proponents of ITA expansion have prepared a consolidated list containing IT products (combining products of interest of all proponents of ITA 2), on which tariff reductions are being sought has been prepared and circulated amongst WTO members. Same is under active discussions in the WTO these days.
“India’s experience with the ITA has been most discouraging, which almost wiped out the IT industry from India. The real gainer from that agreement has been China which raised its global market share from 2% to 14% between 2000-2011,” according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
“In light of recent measures taken by the Government to build a sound manufacturing environment in the field of Electronics and Information Technology, this is the time for us to incubate our industry rather than expose it to undue pressures of competition. Accordingly and also keeping in view opinion of domestic IT industry, it has been decided not to participate in the ITA expansion negotiations for the time being,” the Ministry added.