India Exits RCEP: Analysing Trade Flows under India’s CEPAs
In November 2019, the Indian government took an unprecedented decision to withdraw from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which was to be the world’s largest economic integration agreement comprising 16 East Asian economies. The decision to withdraw came after almost all major domestic entities in both agriculture and manufacturing argued that the steep reductions in tariffs that were one of the main planks of RCEP would be detrimental to their interests.
This view of the domestic entities, which was eventually accepted by the government, exposed their lack of competitiveness…