More than 70 per cent of India’s exim trade would come from foreign trade agreements (FTAs) in the next two-three years, as over 12 countries would collaborate with India, a senior government official said.
This presently stood at 10 per cent and was expected to jump to 70 per cent in the next 2-3-years, the official said.
At present, India’s exim trade stands at $500 billion, of which exports stand at $200 billion and imports at $300 billion.
“In the next two-three-years, we will collaborate with a number of countries like Switzerland, Norway, Japan, Namibia, South Africa, Gulf states and the European Union, among others,” ministry of commerce, director (trade services division), Ajay Shrivastava, said here.
After signing an agreement with The Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) and Korea early this year, India is now expanding its business relations across the globe.
During the recent slowdown (only now beginning to mend), India had emerged as a hot destination for emerging economies for exports, he said.
"All these countries have started negotiations for an FTA to further expand their relationship,” Shrivastava said.
The commerce ministry official also said there was a huge potential to increase cross-border investment, as well as services exports, and it was essential that negotiations covered those areas, particularly IT, film and education sectors.
“The agreements are like stepping stones towards international integration into a global free market economy,” Shrivastava said.
Source : Business Standard