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Date: 22/10/2024

India could recalibrate FTA strategy amid rising imports
 
India is mulling taking it slow and recalibrating its Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) negotiation strategy to ensure it is able to maximise trade and investment gains from such pacts amid past challenges and rising imports, it is learnt. The Department of Commerce plans to seek the Union Cabinet’s approval to implement fresh guidelines for negotiating FTAs. The SOPs for the new FTA strategy are ready and a Cabinet note is being prepared by the Commerce Department. New FTAs are likely to be negotiated once the SOPs are in place. In the last five years, India’s total imports from FTA partners (ASEAN, UAE, SAFTA, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Mauritius)  increased by 37.9% to a value of $187.92 billion while its exports increased by 14.48% to $122.72 billion, per an analysis by research body Global Trade Research Initiative, as per a report.
 
Source: Exim News Service: New Delhi, Oct. 21