Focus on the Global South - India Programme

Reclaiming the Commons

Ministers differ on India-Asean FTA

Monday, 13 August 2007 06:55 Sonila Swaminathan

PTI, published by The Economic Times / May 04, 2007

NEW DELHI: Rekindling differences with his senior colleague Kamal Nath, Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh has written to the Prime Minister seeking review of the proposed reduction in customs duty on farm products under the Free Trade Agreement with Asean.

In his April six letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ramesh said the proposed reduction in duty on five agricultural products - tea, coffee, crude and refined edible oil and pepper - under the FTA with Asean would hurt the domestic growers and has sought Singh's intervention to "reconsider" the move.

India-Thailand FTA delayed

Monday, 13 August 2007 06:41 Sonila Swaminathan

Rituparna Bhuyan, Business Standard / New Delhi, June 19 2007

Talks may go on till October; negotiations on services & investments pending, say officials.

Negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) covering goods, services and investments between India and Thailand, which were supposed to conclude by this month-end, are likely to go on till October.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Thai counterpart Suryaud Chulanont, who is visiting India from June 22, were supposed to make a joint statement on the operationalisation of the agreement on June 26.

Indian trade delegation to visit Sri Lanka

Monday, 13 August 2007 06:38 Sonila Swaminathan

PTI, published by The Economnic Times / March 23 2007

COLOMBO: An Indian trade delegation is due in Colombo next week for talks aimed at firming up bilateral trade which will include professional services, investments and trade in goods, officials said.

Both countries are exploring avenues to deepen the existing trade pact under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement or CEPA.

Indian business groups wary of Thai FTA

Monday, 13 August 2007 06:35 Sonila Swaminathan

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Shivam Vij, Bangkok Post / New Delhi, October 21 2006

Under pressure from local industrialists who fear they are losing out to foreign competition, the Indian government is reviewing a number of free-trade pacts, including those pending with Thailand and Asean.

"Bilateral agreements having divergent standards with different countries may not help India remain competitive in the international market," said R.V. Kanoria, a international trade expert with the Confederation of Indian Industry, a New Dehli-based trade group.

"Liberalisation of tariffs by the Indian government should be calibrated with internal reforms in labour, infrastructure and agriculture," he said in an interview with the Bangkok Post.

Toyota, Honda and Procter & Gamble are the three multinational corporations that have benefited the most from the Indo-Thai FTA, noted an economic analyst.

India offers new concessions for Asean FTA

Monday, 13 August 2007 06:31 Sonila Swaminathan

Business Standard Reporter / New Delhi April 17, 2007

India has offered a new set of concessions to the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), during the negotiations in the last two months for a proposed free trade agreement.

The latest offer by India includes an enhanced list of items on which duties would be eliminated as well as decreasing the time-frame within which the duties on certain highly sensitive agricultural products would be brought down. The negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement are likely to conclude by July.

India has moved over 150 items from the sensitive list to the normal list. With this, the total number of items on which duties will be eliminated stands at 4,180.