Dominique Girad, French ambassador to India, in Calcutta on Thursday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Jan. 27: Wine producers from 12 countries, including France and Australia, will move the government to have tariff barriers on imports to India reduced.

French ambassador to India, Dominique Girad, told an interactive session organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here today that he would join his counterparts in 11 countries in writing to commerce minister Kamal Nath to bring down tariffs on wine imports.

France, Australia and California account for the bulk of the over 200 prominent wine labels available in the country.

?The letter will be sent to the minister some time next week. We hope the government will take steps to facilitate selling and import of wines. Though political factors are important, we hope to get some results,? Girad said. The implementation of value-added tax (VAT), he felt, would also help bring down the prices of wine.

Indians, estimated to have swilled half a million cases (1 case equals 9 litres) in 2003-04, could be guzzling five million of them in the next 10 years. It is also learnt that 18,000 cases are smuggled in every year. This includes the ?carry-back? packs that Indian tourists bring home.

Though the government slashed duties on liquor from 182 per cent to 166 per cent, it left out beer and wine. The duty structure on wine is based on three classifications of CIF value (cost, insurance and freight) ? the first slab covers those that are priced below $25 per case, the second is for those from $25 to $40 and the third includes those that cost more than $40. The basic duty on all three segments, however, is a uniform 100 per cent.

The countervailing duty (CVD) is 75 per cent for cases under $25, 50 per cent for those priced between $25-40 and 20 per cent for those available above $40. This amounts to a minimum effective duty of 250 per cent, 200 per cent and 140 per cent, respectively. The special additional duty (SAD) of 4 per cent was removed and customs duty slashed to 8-12 per cent in February last year.

Girad said he expects good growth in trade between India and France. The European Union heavyweight sells goods and services worth Rs 7500 crore to India and buys merchandise valued at Rs 5000 crore.

?We are keen on Indian firms investing in France. Ranbaxy and Jindal are among those that have already done so. Wipro has promised 400 jobs this year,? Girad said.