<div>An inter-ministerial panel has suggested higher taxes for non-essential imports with a view to curbing inward shipments and containing the current account deficit (CAD).<br /><br />The Committee has also suggested a list of non-essential items the import of which could be compressed, with a view to bridge the trade gap.<br /><br />These suggestions form part of the recommendations made by the Committee set up by Finance Minister P Chidambaram under the chairmanship of Rajat Bhargava, Joint Secretary (Budget Division) to suggest steps to contain the rising CAD, which had touched a record high of 4.8 per cent of GDP in the last fiscal.<br /><br />The committee has already submitted its report to Chidambaram and according to sources some steps are likely to be announced soon.<br /><br />"The panel has suggested higher taxes on those non- essential items which do not add to inflationary pressures," sources said.<br /><br />Chidambaram had earlier said that government would be looking at "some compression in non-oil and non-gold imports, especially of non-essential goods", citing the example of coal and electronic hardware.<br /><br />For the April-June period this fiscal, exports were down by 1.41 per cent at $72.45 billion over the same period last year. However, imports during the period were up by 5.99 per cent at $122.6 billion.<br /><br />Trade gap in the first quarter stood at over $50 billion.<br /><br />India's exports during 2012-13 was at $300.3 billion, while imports aggregated $491.9 billion. Trade deficit stood at $191.6 billion during the period.<br /><br />Current Account Deficit (CAD) occurs when total imports of goods, services and transfers are higher than exports, reflecting outgo of foreign exchange.<br /><br />(Reuters)<br /> </div>
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