India had recently signed a trade pact in services and investments, which ordered a review of all existing free trade agreements (FTAs) signed by the previous dispensation.
Barely a month after the trade pact was sealed with the Asean, an internal assessment of the deal that has been placed before the Cabinet Secretariat concludes that India has got “almost nothing” by signing the agreement.
This is the first such pact signed by the government, which had, ironically, ordered a review of all existing free trade agreements (FTAs) signed by the previous dispensation on the grounds that these pacts were “not leveraged adequately in some cases”.
India had formally signed the services and trade agreements with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) early last month, two years after the discussions on the pact concluded. It had implemented the FTA in goods with Asean members in 2010.
The commerce ministry had issued an official statement saying that the pact “will open up opportunities of movement of both manpower and investments from either side between India and Asean”, on September 9.
Inclusion of movement of natural persons, i.e. ‘Mode 4’, will provide “commercially meaningful market across in Asean for our professionals, including those from the IT/ITeS sector”, the statement had said.
‘Mode 4’ take account of the presence or movement of natural persons like engineers, doctors, consultants, accountants etc., who provide services in some other country. Since India has a stronghold on the services sector, it is one of the key interest areas for the country.
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However, a senior government official told the media that the final valuation made to the Cabinet Secretariat has countered this view and pointed to India having got a raw deal.
“The Asean members wanted a single MFN (most favoured nation) offer against their individual offers. India yielded to the condition but asked for Asean-Australia-New Zealand (AANZ) agreement-plus offer. However, it did not get that. India had to table different offers to eight members of Asean, while one each to the Philippines and Indonesia,” the official said.
Constant mails sent to the spokesperson of the commerce ministry on the issue remain unanswered. Calls and text message sent to commerce secretary, Rajeev Kher, did not prompt any response on the issue either. Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman could not be reached for comments despite repeated calls, text messages, and an e-mail sent on the issue by various media houses.
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Tushita is a political writer at thenational.net. Her deep rooted interest in politics, passion for writing and craze for travelling define her. Writing since her school days, she aspires to write lifelong and make the world a happier place to live with the power of her pen.
