India–US trade deal shields cross‑border streaming from future customs duties

In the digital trade talks with Washington, New Delhi has agreed that future bilateral rules will bar Customs duties on “electronic transmissions,” a category widely understood to cover cross‑border streaming of video and music alongside software downloads and other digital content.

For OTT platforms and other US and Indian streaming services, this means both sides are signaling that even if the WTO moratorium lapses, they will not slap import‑style Customs tariffs on subscription or pay‑per‑view streams delivered over the internet, and will instead continue to tax such services through domestic regimes like GST rather than border duties.
BCS Bureau