ASEAN stonewalling FTA review, 9 rounds done: Official

The 10-member ASEAN has stonewalled the review of its free trade pact with India, a critical demand of New Delhi as it seeks to balance its trade with the bloc.

The ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), came into effect in 2010, is currently under review. India has been demanding a review of the pact to eliminate barriers and its misuse. The review is aimed to be completed this year.

“Diplomatically, the relations are very good but why should our industry suffer? It’s the anguish of the Indian industry as nine

rounds have happened and the Asean have stonewalled the progress,” said an official.

Last week, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal slammed the ASEAN describing several countries in the region as a “B team of China” and the trade pact with the bloc “silly”.

Asean, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

India’s goods exports to the ASEAN shrank 5.4% on-year in FY25 to $38.96 billion while rose 5.6% to $84.16 billion.

“India’s exports have doubled but imports trebled since the pact. There is a whopping 26 times increase in imports,” said an official.

The AITIGA is being reviewed as India seeks to eliminate barriers and misuse of the trade pact. Concerns have also been raised about routing of goods to India from third countries especially China through Asean members by taking the duty advantages of the agreement.

India had opened 71% of tariff lines while Indonesia opened only 41%, Vietnam 66.5%, and Thailand opened 67%, said another official.

As per the official, subsidised goods from a third country were found to be dumped until India levied anti-dumping duty. Similarly, India cracked down on dumping of steel imports via Safeguard duty as the melt-and-pour clause was not a part of the AITIGA.