The trade-in goods agreement came into force between the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and India on January 1, 2010.
Similarly, India and Japan implemented the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in August 2011. A similar pact with Korea was implemented in January 2010.
India is seeking a review of these trade pacts.
The “ASEAN agreement…(is the) most ill-conceived agreement. If anyone would have read that, it is so unfair to Indian industry,” he said here at a function of chemicals and petrochemicals industry.
The minister said that India’s exports to Japan have not grown “at all”, but imports from Japan have jumped 200 per cent. “What it (India’s exports to Japan) was 10 years ago, it is the same today with Japan…kisko fayda hua (who has got benefitted),” he said, adding “If they (UPA-government) had done stakeholders engagements and if they had understood from you (industry) all the pain points, we would not have seen this day that we are requesting them and asking them to renegotiate with us the FTA to make it more balanced, fair and equitable”. India’s exports to Japan dipped to USD 5.46 billion in 2022-23 from USD 6.17 billion in 2021-22. However, imports have increased to USD 16.5 billion in 2022-23 from USD 14.4 billion in 2021-22.
India’s exports to South Korea fell to USD 6.65 billion in 2022-23 from USD 8 billion in 2021-22. However, imports rose to USD 21.22 billion in 2022-23 from USD 17.5 billion in 2021-22.
Similarly, the country’s exports to the ASEAN bloc have increased to USD 44 billion in 2022-23 from USD 42.32 billion in 2021-22. Imports too have risen to USD 87.57 billion in 2022-23 from USD 68 billion in 2021-22.
The ten Asean members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The minister said the Modi government held a series of consultations with industry and other stakeholders on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and then decided to be out of that pact which was not in India’s interest.
Further emphasising the importance of sustainability, Goyal said India’s international business will get “severely” impacted if the domestic industry is not able to commit and conform to the standards of the developed countries.
He said that the Indian industry would have to be conscious about the environment and that products and processes should move towards carbon neutrality.