India and the mega-regional trade agreements of the Asia Pacific

Abstract

The last two decades have witnessed a rapid proliferation of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) in the global economy. India is also notabsent from this phenomenon. Despite its membership in the World Trade Organisation, it is part of 28 smaller RTAs, including a 16-partyagreement, called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). This paper, taking into account the current trend of RTAs, justifiesthat India s participation in the smaller RTAs and more particularly in RCEP is to benefit not only in terms of trade liberalisation but also in terms ofother cooperation, such as services sector liberalisation, investment, trade facilitation and others. These are important given India s current drive toundertake domestic reform and implement projects like Make in India, Skill India, Smart Cities and Digital India. In addition, the RTAs like RCEP arebeing instituted for strategic rationales, such as advance India s greater role in Asian regional architecture.