India’s Act East Policy is centered around its relations with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), which has consistently been at the core of deliberations for over a decade now. Today, all sides feel the need for a review and recast of the free trade agreement (FTA) in terms of user-friendliness and trade felicitation. Post the implementation of AITIGA in January 2010, exports between India and Asean have grown at a CAGR of 2.08% during 2010-20 while imports have grown by 4.5% during the same period. Apart from the increasing trade deficit other issues such as rules of origin, and nontariff barriers remain unresolved. Therefore the scope of review of the FTA must include: (a) Tariff reduction and elimination (b) Rationalization and streamlining of Non-Tariff Barriers which is a major barrier to Indian exports to ASEAN (c) simplified and uniform Customs procedures in India and ASEAN (d) standardization of operating procedures on Certificate of Origin (e) Economic and Technical Cooperation and (f) protection of indigenous industries for achieving Atmanirvar Bharat.
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