Mumbai: The US has dropped plans to impose duties on certain jewelry items from India after the two countries reached an agreement over a controversial e-commerce tax.

Earlier this year, the Department of the Treasury proposed tariffs of up to 25% on a range of Indian products, including selected gems and jewelry. This was in response to India’s digital services tax, which the US considered discriminatory against American online sellers.

The US suspended the tariffs for six months, with the period due to end on Monday, India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said last week. However, the Indian Ministry of Finance settled the matter with its American counterparts last week, the GJEPC reported.

“This has protected various Indian industrial sectors, including the gem and jewelry sector, in a big way, as the US is India’s top five significant export markets,” GJEPC executive director Sabyasachi Ray wrote in a note to members. “We are hopeful that bilateral trade and economic relation[s] between the two countries will remain strengthened going forward.”