Impact of FTAs

India is a member of the following two regional Free Trade Agreements (FTAs):

i) Agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area or SAFTA whose participating countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

ii) India-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) on goods, services and investment whose participating countries are India, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam)

The trade data with FTA partners, prior to and after implementation of the agreement indicates that there has been a significant increase of our trade. Moreover, studies also indicate that increase in share of imports of raw materials, intermediate goods and capital goods could lead to enhanced efficiencies in domestic production and thus contribute to greater exports. The overall effect on trade of an FTA is positive and statistically significant.

The free trade agreement (FTAs) do provide opportunities for export of agricultural (including processed) products of interest for macro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

India is negotiating the following new Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with trading partners:

i) India-European Union Broad-based Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (India-EU BTIA) (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom)

ii) India - Thailand Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA)

iii) India - Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA)

iv) India – European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Trade & Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) (Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland)

v) India - New Zealand CECA

vi) India – Israel FTA

vii) Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation BIMSTEC CECA (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal)

viii) India - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Framework Agreement (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and United Arab Emirates)

ix) India – Canada FTA

x) India - Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA)

xi) India - Australia CECA

xii) Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement among ASEAN + 6 FTA Partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand)

Before entering into negotiations with its trading partners, studies are undertaken internally, as well as through the Joint Study Group (JSG) to study the feasibility of the proposed FTAs including its benefits for and impact on the domestic industry.

This information was given by the Commerce and Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.