India Signs Additional FTA With ASEAN

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

10 September 2014

India has signed a pending free trade agreement (FTA) on services and investment with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which should improve the free movement of professionals and facilitate more investments in the services sector for both sides.

The signing was due to take place at the India-ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting in Myanmar at the end of last month but was postponed due to the absence of the Indian Commerce and Industry Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman.

Nine out of 10 ASEAN member states – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – have signed the FTA, the negotiation of which was completed back in December 2012. It is expected that the last ASEAN country, the Philippines, will also able to sign the agreement shortly.

All ASEAN members are expected obtain parliamentary ratification for the FTA shortly, after which it can then be formally put into effect later this year.

The new agreement will add to the existing FTA on trade in goods between India and ASEAN, which was implemented in 2010, and will eliminate tariffs on 80 percent of goods by December 31, 2016.

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