India is in the process of re-negotiating its free trade agreement with ASEAN to address a widening trade deficit and seek deeper tariff cuts on exports like chemicals and gems. The review also aims to strengthen rules of origin to prevent trade misuse. ASEAN may request more concessions. The process...
India’s steel industry faces disadvantages due to FTAs with Japan and South Korea despite being the most cost competitive among major global steel producers. It is important for the government to renegotiate the FTAs with provisions to curb excess imports. India’s overall merchandise trade deficit with major RTA/FTA partners has...
India’s decision to exclude itself from RCEP, at least for now, is aimed at protecting itself from a potential surge in imports, especially China. Nevertheless, it is also true that India cannot pull back on its business association with RCEP countries, as they are integral to the future of global trade,...
India’s concerns on possible rise in trade deficit with RCEP participation are understandable, but it should consider other ways of engaging with the value chains of East and Southeast Asia, besides enhancing its own attractiveness as a business destination. India’s concerns on joining the RCEP primarily stem from experiences of...
Professor Manoj Pant, Director, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, opines that the world has changed a lot, even though we’re still negotiating multilateral agreements on the basis of a pattern of trade that existed in the late 2nd half of the 20th century. Now companies are major actors in global...
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) defines the rules of origin as “the criteria needed to determine the national source of a product. Their importance is derived from the fact that duties and restrictions in several cases depend upon the source of imports”. All internationally traded goods are required to have...
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines a free trade area as “a grouping of countries within which tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers between the members are generally abolished, but with no common trade policy toward non-members”. Tariffs and other trade restrictions between two or more countries is...
Strengthening India’s backward linkages in global value chains is critical to improve domestic value addition, especially in high-end manufactured products. Similarly, India’s forward integration is weak with developed markets like US and EU, an issue that needs to be urgently addressed. • Global value chains bring a plethora of opportunities,...
There are three trade related impediments to an upsurge in India- ASEAN trade ties- inadequate infrastructure, no regional transit trade and consequently, high trade costs (especially transport costs). Investing vigorously in market expansion, through infrastructure is crucial. Changing geopolitical dimensions in world economy and the attention centered on India’s growth...
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