RCEP of little use to India, China to gain: Think tank

NEW DELHI: Days after Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmayam sought a review of joining RCEP, think tank GTRI on Sunday, thumbed down the idea, arguing it will only benefit China in the wake of its opaque trade practices and was unlikely to boost FDI.
“Any benefits from RCEP would likely be minimal and incremental, especially considering China’s opaque trade practices. India cannot have a bilateral FTA with China due to its large trade deficit. However, joining RCEP would be even more problematic,” according to the report prepared by GTRI founder Ajay Srivastava and trade expert Abhijit Das.
It added that in a bilateral free trade pact with China, India could delay tariff reductions, but under RCEP, Chinese goods can enter India easily through other RCEP countries with minimal processing right from the day one of the implementation.
On the argument that RCEP can grant India access to a massive trade area, the report said India already has FTAs with 13 of the 15 RCEP countries, excluding only New Zealand and China. RCEP would likely add little new export opportunity for India as its ex ports to China are not growing since the last five years, it said.