India and ASEAN have signed a Trade in Goods Agreement on 13th August, 2009, which is envisaged to come into force with effect from 1st January, 2010. During the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, domestic consultations were held through various rounds of inter-ministerial meetings and stakeholder dialogues. India and ASEAN member countries have offered to eliminate tariff on specified tariff lines listed in the schedules of the Trade and Goods Agreement.
The Agreement will lead to growth in bilateral trade and investment resulting in economic welfare gains to India. Indian exporters of machinery & machine parts, steel & steel products, oilcake, wheat, buffalo meat, automobiles & auto components, chemicals, synthetic textiles, etc. would gain additional market access into the ASEAN countries. Indian manufacturers would be able to source intermediate products at competitive prices from the ASEAN markets for further reprocessing and export.
Source : meattradenewsdaily.co.uk