Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said India is negotiating trade agreements with “democracies” that believe in “transparent rule-based trading opportunities”, and it is in an advanced stage to conclude the early harvest under a free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK.
His remarks came in the context of the China-centric Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) deal that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had rejected at the eleventh hour on November 4, 2019, in Bangkok as it did not satisfactorily address New Delhi’s concerns that could hamper the interests of Indian industry.
Speaking at a meeting of the textile industry, Goyal said when Modi announced that India was not joining the RCEP, “I think, the entire country heaved a sigh of relief”. Goyal is also the textiles minister.
He said the RCEP negotiations were historical since 2011-12 and the contour of the trade deal was inherited by the Modi government from the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). “After going through the whole process, we realised that it would literally not benefit our Indian industry as much as we would be, let’s say, opening up the Indian market to the others,” he said. The RCEP is the world’s biggest free trade deal involving 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
He said the government is working with different countries to expand market access for Indian industry and clarified that India is keen on having FTAs or preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with democratic nations that believe in transparent rules-based trade that would be mutually beneficial.
“We are engaged with… advanced stage of discussions with UK,” he said, adding that India has also launched negotiations with the EU. “Though, I think, UK will happen faster. At least the early harvest… EU is a longer drawn process… [involving] 27 countries,” he said.
The UAE and Australia are also “promising FTAs or PTAs” that India would look at in the near future, he said. “Canada has shown interest but Covid has actually put us on the back foot over there,” he added.
He asked the industry to become competitive as market access is two-way traffic. “One problem I face when I do FTA negotiations… An industry cannot say open access for me… I want access in other countries, but please don’t allow them to come to India… It is a two-way traffic,” he said.
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