Ohio’s Diebold Gains Duty Free Access into India’s $100+ Million IT Market

The Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA) supported Diebold, a Canton, Ohio-based manufacturer of automated teller machines (ATMs), in its efforts to overcome an unfair cost of doing business in India's IT sector.

Why it matters: Though India had committed to provide duty free access to certain IT products, including ATMs, its decision not to classify Diebold’s machines as ATMs subjected Diebold to a 30 percent duty. This significantly raised the cost of Diebold’s exports and undermined their competitiveness in the Indian market.

The problem: Indian Customs authorities refused to classify Diebold’s machines as ATMs because the machines did not accept deposits, thus depriving Diebold of the benefits of duty-free treatment to which India had previously agreed under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Information Technology Agreement.

The solution: ITA, in cooperation with other U.S. Government agencies, placed sustained pressure on the Indian Commerce and Finance Ministries to reclassify Diebold’s machines appropriately as ATMs. As a result, India finally reclassified Diebold’s machines, reducing the tariff’s Diebold owed from 30% to zero, and ensuring its continued duty-free access to the $100+ million market for the company in India.