Nirmala Sitharaman: Govt open to revisiting FTAs

The government is open to reviewing and renegotiating existing free trade agreements (FTAs) India has signed with different countries, Union minister of state for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.

Addressing stakeholders at the Confederation of Indian Industry's 22nd Partnership Summit at Vishakhapatnam, Sitharaman said there were both "pluses and minuses" in such pacts and the government would take into account the complaints of domestic industry regarding these.

She also allayed industry fears over adverse impacts on trade and investment as a result of the formation of mega trade agreements like the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement).

Industry has been voicing concerns about FTAs, which the minister said involved a lot of issues worth reviewing.

While she accepted there was a need to renegotiate such FTAs, she stressed that these were signed before the current government came to power.

India has FTAs with a dozen countries such as Japan, South Korea and the Asean bloc.

On the TPP trade agreement, which includes twelve Pacific Rim countries, Sitharaman said "necessary steps to boost India's trade and investment have been taken in the wake of emerging new trade architecture". CII President-Designate Naushad Forbes called for adopting a more inclusive approach in regional trading arrangements, particularly for mega-FTAs.