India has not signed any free trade agreement in last 3 yrs: Govt

India and Chile have also expanded the existing PTA to include new products

India has not signed any free or preferential trade agreement (FTA/PTA) in the last three years, Parliament was informed on Monday.

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary, however, said that the country has expanded the scope of India-Asean trade in goods agreement in November 2014.

India and Chile have also expanded the existing PTA (preferential trade agreement) to include new products, he said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

"The department of commerce is negotiating/reviewing 22 trade agreements, including with Israel in West Asia and African countries like Mauritius," he added.

Under free trade agreement (FTA), he said, the government has largely adopted a "conservative" policy on some industrial products and most farm items by maintaining a large number of products in the negative list of those pacts.

Countries do not cut duties on products listed in negative list.

While in a FTA, countries cut or eliminate duties on most number of goods traded between them, in PTA countries reduce import duties on a few identified products.

In a separate question, he said that during April-December this fiscal, India's exports to the US stood at $35.26 billion, while imports were $2014 billion.