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Time of India
8 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
ASEAN stonewalling FTA review, 9 rounds done: Official
The 10-member ASEAN has stonewalled the review of its free trade pact with India, a critical demand of New Delhi as it seeks to balance its trade with the bloc. The ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), came into effect in 2010, is currently under review. India has been demanding a review of the pact to eliminate barriers and its misuse. The review is aimed to be completed this year. 'Diplomatically, the relations are very good but why should our industry suffer? It's the anguish of the Indian industry as nine rounds have happened and the Asean have stonewalled the progress,' said an official. Last week, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal slammed the ASEAN describing several countries in the region as a 'B team of China' and the trade pact with the bloc 'silly'. Asean, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. India's goods exports to the ASEAN shrank 5.4% on-year in FY25 to $38.96 billion while rose 5.6% to $84.16 billion. 'India's exports have doubled but imports trebled since the pact. There is a whopping 26 times increase in imports,' said an official. The AITIGA is being reviewed as India seeks to eliminate barriers and misuse of the trade pact. Concerns have also been raised about routing of goods to India from third countries especially China through Asean members by taking the duty advantages of the agreement. India had opened 71% of tariff lines while Indonesia opened only 41%, Vietnam 66.5%, and Thailand opened 67%, said another official. As per the official, subsidised goods from a third country were found to be dumped until India levied anti-dumping duty. Similarly, India cracked down on dumping of steel imports via Safeguard duty as the melt-and-pour clause was not a part of the AITIGA.
The Hindu
9 hours ago
- Business
- The Hindu
No headway in India-ASEAN trade deal review despite 9 meetings in last one year
Over the last one year, officials of the government of India have held nine meetings with officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to review the trade agreement signed with the grouping, but no progress has been made on any item, according to sources. 'After a lot of pressure from the government of India, they agreed for a review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA),' a source said. 'Yet, after even nine rounds of review, they have not accepted terms on even one item.' Under the original agreement, signed in 2009, India opened 71% of its tariff lines to the ASEAN countries whereas countries like Indonesia opened 41%, Vietnam 66.5%, and Thailand 67%, the source explained. 'In the last 15 years, our exports to ASEAN have doubled, but our imports have tripled,' they said. 'These factors necessitated a review of the deal but we are being stonewalled.' The review by a joint committee began in February 2024. India had found through its investigations that there are countries in the ASEAN grouping that were receiving highly subsidised raw materials from China, processing them, and then exporting them to India, the source said. 'When we (the current government) saw this was happening, we imposed an anti-dumping duty on the originating country as well,' the source said. The trade deal with ASEAN also allowed the dumping of steel in India, they added.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
India to focus on robust pacts with developed nations: Piyush Goyal
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel New Delhi: India 's focus is on entering into robust trade agreements with the developed world, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday."Our focus is on entering into robust trade agreements with the developed world," Goyal said at an event in has announced its free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK and concluded deals with Australia, the UAE and European Free Trade Association. It is also in talks with the US and European Union."There was a time 15 years ago when we were more focused on doing trade agreements with countries who were really our competitors. Why do an ASEAN agreement... which was done 15 years ago before we came into government... it really is silly because I am opening up my market to my competitors, many of whom have now become the B team of China. So, effectively and indirectly, I have opened up my market for goods that find their way from China into India," Goyal ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), which came into effect in 2010, is currently under review. India has been demanding a review of the pact to eliminate barriers and its or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and this government is focusing on having robust agreements, as it did with Australia and is now set to negotiate with New Zealand in another three-four months, Goyal said."What we did with the UAE and are now close to closing second in the Gulf... and possibly start with other countries of the Gulf region. The rich countries... countries against whom we do not compete but complement," he said. Trade negotiations are going on with Chile and Peru as well.
Time of India
23-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Low use of Asean FTA under review; aim is to eliminate barriers
The commerce and industry ministry has assessed that the utilisation of the preferential route under the Asean-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) for the export of many goods, including chemicals and plastics, to Thailand is below 50%. The AITIGA was signed in 2009 and came into effect in 2010. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads NEW DELHI: The government is examining the causes for the low utilisation of India's free trade agreement (FTA) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) bloc, particularly Thailand The commerce and industry ministry has assessed that the utilisation of the preferential route under the Asean-India Trade in Goods Agreement ( AITIGA ) for the export of many goods, including chemicals and plastics, to Thailand is below 50%. The AITIGA was signed in 2009 and came into effect in 2010."The AITIGA offers lower preferential tariff rates compared to the tariffs levied by Thailand. We have asked industry why the utilisation of this preferential route for many exports is below 50%," said an Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are Asean members. Five countries-Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam-account for 92.7% of India's exports to and 97.4% imports from per the analysis, Thailand imposes most-favoured nation (MFN) duty of 3-30% on certain plastics and chemicals whereas these products can go duty-free under the present, the AITIGA is being reviewed as India seeks to eliminate barriers and misuse of the trade pact. Concerns have also been raised about routing of goods from third countries in India through Asean members by taking the duty advantages of the the pact, the two sides agreed to progressively eliminate duties on about 75% of goods and reduce tariffs on around 15% goods but the 10 Asean countries made different tariff elimination commitments.
