Are Indian Agricultural Commodities Competitive under the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement?

By : Subhash Jagdambe, Rajesh Raushan

Page No: 143-155

Abstract
The inclusion of the agricultural sector under the free trade agreement (FTA) has been a topic of discussion since its inception. This study addresses the question of whether the Indian agricultural commodities are competitive under the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement (AIFTA). It relies on the World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) data for ASEAN and India between the years 2001 and 2021. Methodologically, the Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) index value was calculated to evaluate the competitiveness of India on 15 selected agricultural commodities. The study reveals that India has comparative advantage at the aggregate level but there are strong variations across the commodities at a disaggregate level. Commodities such as meat, spices, and cotton products were found to have strong comparative advantage reflecting India’s future export potential in the ASEAN market. On the contrary, commodities like diary, edible fruit coffee, soya-bean and palm oil products were found to be at a comparative disadvantage in the ASEAN market over the study period. There is a need to reframe the Indian agricultural trade policy and priority should be given to the exportoriented, high-value goods for augmenting competitiveness with the ASEAN countries in the future. 

Authors :
Subhash Jagdambe
Assistant Professor, Balurghat Mahila Mahavidayalya, Dakshin Dinajpur, West Bengal, India.

Rajesh Raushan
Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS), New Delhi, India.
 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/PROD.2022.63.02.2