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Government of India
Ministry of Commerce & Industry
09-December-2013 16:23 IST
Free Trade Agreements

The details of countries with which India has entered into Free Trade Agreements (FTA) are given below:

 

The details of countries with which India has entered into Free Trade Agreements (FTA) are given below:

 

 

S.

No.

Name of the Agreement and the participating countries

Date of Signing

Date of Implementation

1.

India - Bhutan Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit

17.01.1972

(revised on 28.07.2006)

(Agreement is renewed, from time to time, by mutual consent to such changes and modifications as may be agreed upon between the two countries)

29.07.2006  

 

 

2.

Revised Indo-Nepal Treaty of Trade

06.12.1991

(Revised on 27.10.2009)

(The Treaty is amended/ modified by mutual consent of the contracting parties and the present Treaty is valid till 26.10.2016)

27.10.2009 

3.

India - Sri Lanka FTA

28.12.1998

01.03.2000

4.

Agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan)

 

04.01. 2004

01.01.2006

(Afghanistan became Eighth Member of SAARC from April, 2007 and the provisions of Trade Liberalization Programme are applicable to Afghanistan w.e.f. 07.08.2011).

5.

India - Thailand FTA - Early Harvest Scheme (EHS)

01.09.2004

01.09.2004

6.

India - Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA)

29.06.2005

01.08.2005

7.

India - South Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)

07.08. 2009

01.01.2010

8.

India – ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam)

13.08.2009

1st January 2010 in respect of India and Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand.

1st June 2010 in respect of India and Vietnam.

1st September 2010 in respect of India and Myanmar.

1st October 2010 in respect of India and Indonesia.

1st November in respect of India and Brunei.

24 January 2011 in respect of India and Laos.

1st June 2011 in respect of India and the Philippines.

1st August, 2011 in respect of India and Cambodia.

9.

India - Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

16.02.2011

01.08.2011

10.

India - Malaysia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement

18.02.2011

01.07. 2011

 

In addition to the above-mentioned FTAs, India has signed Preferential Trade Agreement (limited tariff lines with Margin of Preference i.e. percentage of Tariff concession) with the following countries:

 

S.

No.

Name of the Agreement and the participating countries

Date of Signing

Date of Implementation

1

Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) (Bangladesh, China, India, Lao PDR, Republic of Korea, and Sri Lanka)

July, 1975           (revised Agreement signed on 02.11.2005

01.11.1976

 

2

Global System of Trade Preferences (G S T P)

(Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Tanzania, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe)

April, 1988

April,1989

 

3

India - Afghanistan PTA

06.03.2003

May, 2003

4

India - MERCOSUR PTA

25.01.2004

01.06.2009

5

India - Chile PTA

08.03. 2006

August, 2007

 

 

The Government is negotiating the following FTAs, including expansion/review of some of the existing FTAs:

 

S. No.

Name of the Agreement

1

India - EU Broad Based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA)

(Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, 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)

2

India - ASEAN CECA - Services and Investment Agreement

(Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam)

3

India – Sri Lanka CEPA

4

India - Thailand CECA

5

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

6

India EFTA BTIA (Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland)

7

India - New Zealand FTA/CECA

8

India – Israel FTA

9

India - Singapore CECA (Second Review)

10

India – South African Custom Union (SACU) Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and  Namibia)

11

India - MERCOSUR PTA (expansion)

(Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay)

12

India – Chile PTA (expansion)

13

BIMSTEC CECA

(Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal)

14

India - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)  Framework Agreement

(Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Yemen)

15

India – Canada  CEPA

16

India -  Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) 

17

India – Australia FTA / CECA

18.

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement among  ASEAN (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) + 6 FTA Partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand)

 

India has been engaged at different stages of negotiations with these countries and blocs.  The conclusion of negotiations depends on agreements on all the issues by the partner countries.

 

Total trade (import/export) with India’s FTA partner countries during each of the last three years and the current year is given in the Annexure.

Impact evaluation of FTAs is a continuous process which starts even before FTA negotiations are entered into.  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 their impact on the domestic stakeholders including the Apex Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Industry Associations as well as the Administrative Ministries and Departments.  In order to protect the interest of the domestic industry and agriculture sector, these agreements provide for maintaining sensitive/negative lists of items on which limited or no tariff concessions are granted under the FTA.  In addition, in case of a surge in imports and injury to the domestic industry, a country is allowed to take recourse to the measures such as anti-dumping and safeguards.  Every FTA has a joint review mechanism which monitors the implementation of the FTA.  India’s trade and economic relations with all its FTA partners have increased substantially.

 

The Centre for International Trade, Economics and Environment has requested the Government to safeguard public interest while negotiating the FTAs and has recommended that India’s strategy to negotiate and implement free trade agreements should take into account, inter alia, the following points:

 

(i)         There should be a better alignment/coherence of India’s trade policy with the objectives of other major macroeconomic policies such as National Manufacturing Policy;

 

(ii)        All relevant stakeholders such as business association including bodies representing micro, small and medium enterprises and civil society and community-based organisations should be given due representation in trade policy-making process and its implementation;

 

(iii)       Comprehensive analyses of market access and other opportunities in prospective partner-country markets including analyses of factors relating to enhancement of competitiveness of India’s exports through right mix of import intensity should be undertaken before initiating trade negotiations. Negotiations should start after a thorough understanding of sustainability impact of free trade agreements in respect to their economic, social and environmental sustainability;

 

(iv)       Impact of third-party FTAs (that is between two or more countries with which India has significant trade relations but does not have a free trade agreement) on the Indian economy should be analysed.

 

The Department of Commerce has studied the recommendations and is undertaking widespread stakeholder consultations to ensure that all possible viewpoints are taken into account while negotiating free trade agreements.

Annexure

Total trade (import/export) with India’s FTA partner countries during each of the last three years and the current year

 

Values in US$ Million

S. No.

Country

2010-2011

2011-2012

2012-2013

2013-2014 (Apr-Sep)

ASEAN

Import

Export

Import

Export

Import

Export

Import

Export

1.

Brunei

234.17

23.07

605.02

895.49

814.80

40.02

445.72

15.08

2.

Cambodia

8.01

66.94

7.27

99.45

11.90

112.28

7.13

52.51

3.

Indonesia

9,918.63

5,700.78

14,765.93

6,677.99

14,879.49

5,331.30

7,124.90

2,571.15

4.

Lao PDR

0.22

13.11

89.26

14.97

138.64

28.91

71.52

13.67

5.

Malaysia

6,523.58

3,871.17

9,473.64

3,980.36

9,951.06

4,444.07

4,801.24

2,142.00

6.

Myanmar

1,017.67

320.62

1,381.15

545.38

1,412.69

544.66

675.23

274.24

7.

Philippines

429.39

881.10

441.38

992.91

504.00

1,187.19

195.18

626.14

8.

Singapore

7,139.31

9,825.44

8,388.49

16,857.71

7,486.38

13,619.24

3,335.89

8,109.40

9.

Thailand

4,272.09

2,274.21

5,283.84

2,961.01

5,352.61

3,733.17

2,693.74

1,762.57

10.

Vietnam

1,064.90

2,651.44

1,722.87

3,719.09

2,314.78

3,967.37

1,475.45

2,146.12

11.

Afghanistan

146.03

422.41

132.50

510.90

159.55

472.63

72.47

227.14

12.

Bangladesh

446.75

3,242.90

585.73

3,789.20

639.33

5,144.99

245.66

2,750.22

13.

Bhutan

201.57

176.03

202.55

229.86

164.00

233.22

71.99

135.72

14.

Maldives

31.38

100.14

18.89

124.60

6.29

122.36

1.49

46.45

15.

Nepal

513.40

2,168.06

549.97

2,721.57

543.10

3,088.84

154.42

1,338.26

16.

Pakistan

332.51

2,039.53

397.66

1,541.56

541.87

2,064.79

177.28

830.70

17.

Sri Lanka

501.73

3,510.05

637.43

4,378.79

625.81

3,983.87

266.57

1,956.57

18.

Japan

8,632.03

5,091.24

11,999.43

6,328.54

7,907.17

6,100.06

4,973.93

3,322.35

19.

Republic of Korea

10,475.29

3,727.29

12,811.99

4,352.35

13,105.12

4,202.25

6,291.96

1,991.02

India's Total Trade

369,769.12

251,136.19

489,319.48

305,963.92

490,736.64

300,400.68

231,584.10

151,841.23

Source: DOC-NIC

The information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Dr. E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan in Lok Sabha today.

 

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DS/SJM