India-Asean FTA Review Talks: Goyal for Addressing Local Industry’s Concerns

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said that reviews of India’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) are done periodically to address outstanding issues, including those related to the local industries, following concerns raised by the industry body of the country.

Goyal’s statement comes after industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) requested an extensive review of the India-Asean FTA. The CII also asked to rectify the duty inconsistencies on like products and inverted duty structures between India and Asean countries.

Goyal, in a meeting with the CII National Council, said that the government regularly monitors the impact of FTAs and undertakes their reviews. He also added that these reviews are done to address any outstanding issues or concerns of the local industry. Goyal said the government would not allow any FTA to create difficulties for the domestic industry.

The minister said that the India-Asean FTA review will be “comprehensive.” He also assured that “the government will engage closely with CII and address their concerns so that our local industry can enhance its global competitiveness."

Goyal mentioned that India’s exports to Asean have grown by 27% in the past year, reaching $43 billion. However, he added that the trade deficit with Asean continues to remain high, and India needs to work on reducing it.

The CII has been demanding a review of the India-Asean FTA for quite some time now. The industry body says that the agreement has not benefited India as much as expected. The CII has also raised concerns over the inverted duty structure, where India’s tariffs on certain products are higher than those of Asean countries.

The India-Asean FTA was signed in 2009 and came into effect in 2010. The agreement covers trade in goods, services, and investments. It has been widely criticized by domestic industries, who say that it has led to a surge in imports from Asean countries, hurting local manufacturers.