Australia raps India sugar subsidies as part of WTO transparency drive

India's annual subsidies to sugarcane producers have breached the allowed limits by as much as tenfold in the past six years, Australia told the World Trade Organization in a document published by the world body on Friday.

India's support for producers is supposed to be capped at 10 percent of the value of production, but it had paid between 77.1 percent and 99.8 percent since 2011, with payments between $9.3 billion and $11.8 billion, Australia said.

The Australian challenge to India follows a US call for transparency at the WTO, which President Donald Trump has threatened to quit if it does not “shape up”.

Australia said India had not reported any subsidies for sugarcane or its derived products since 1995-6, when the WTO was created, but evidence Australia had collected showed the actual payments were “vastly in excess of the limits”.

Australia said it was ready to discuss its findings with India and other WTO members, as well as the impact of the payments on global markets.