The items that have been given the tariff concession include ceramic items, glassware, textiles and medical materials.

The official notification intimating the duty cuts has already been issued, the officials confirmed.

Tiles, marble, marble blocks granite, worked slate, articles of cement, cement tiles for mosaic, sanitary ware, kitchenware and other items of fly ash have come under the tax reduction facility with a 10 percent cut, while identical is the case with washbasins and their pedestals, ceramic sinks, bathtubs, shower bathtubs, flushing cisterns, urinals and similar fittings of porcelain China.

Import duty has been reduced to 10 percent also on polishes and adhesive creams for footwear, furniture, coachwork, juice of any citrus or mixture of juices.

The custom duty on shampoos, cotton yarns, hair oils, hair creams, hair dyes and hair fixers has been halved to 10 percent, while it has been brought down to 10 percent from 20 percent on wadding, gauze, bandages and similar items for medical and veterinary purposes.

Among other goods that will enjoy import duty cut facility are colours, inks and machinery parts, and a wide range of glassware products including drinking glasses, glass statues, imitation pearls, imitation precious or imitation semi-precious stones.

India has taken up this step to expedite the process of ushering in South Asian Preferential Trading Arrangement (Sapta) featuring Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Maldives and India, Indian official sources claimed.

Sapta became operational from 1995 to promote and sustain mutual trade and economic cooperation among the member states of Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) through exchange of concessions in respect of tariffs, para-tariffs, non-tariff barriers and direct trade measures.