The Commerce Ministry on Thursday said free trade agreement (FTAs) have not contributed to the increase in trade deficits with ‘some countries’. Though the preferential imports have been increasing from the period 2009-10 to 2014-15, they are still not significant, ranging from 5.9 per cent of total imports under the India-Malaysia comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) to 29.9 per cent of total imports under the India-Korea comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) during 2014-15.
“This clearly indicates the preferential imports under FTAs have not contributed to the increase in trade deficits with some countries,” the commerce ministry said in its year-end review statement.
The implications of the such agreements on India can be gauged from the regular impact analysis conducted by the Department of Commerce. One of the methods of gauging this impact of FTAs on overall trade is through preferential trade data.
In this context, the department has analysed the broad trend of India's preferential imports under the FTAs with countries including Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, ASEAN and Malaysia. Some section of industry including exporters have raised concerns over these free trade pacts.