India played host to the 19th Round of talks for the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) from 17-28th July 2017. The talks were held in Hyderabad – the state capital of Telangana, over 1,500 kms from the political capital in New Delhi. But the moot question is – are all the States in the country united in their support of the Centre’s push for new rules of ‘free trade’ in this mega-regional free trade agreement (FTA)?

The Kerala state government was the first to raise its concern about the adverse impact of the RCEP on the agriculture sector. But what about other state…

The 19th round of negotiations for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will be hosted by India in Hyderabad from 18-28 July 2017. About 700 officials from 16 member-countries of RCEP would gather at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre to thrash out new rules for cross-border trade and investment with the aim of deepening regional economic integration.

The RCEP is a proposed mega regional trade pact being negotiated between ASEAN and their 6 FTA partner-countries (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand) since 2012. It covers a wide range of issues including trade in goods, trade in services, investment, intellectual property rights, competition policy,…

State governments in India are pre-occupied with creating a favourable environment for attracting investment. But before opening doors to investors, they ought to be equally engrossed with preparing themselves for situations when investors, whether Indian or foreign, raise disputes. The dispute settlement mechanism being pushed in free trade agreements (FTAs) and bilateral investment treaties (BITs) is a marked shift from traditional adjudication processes.

Governments at the Centre and in the States must urgently invest in building their own capacity to handle the new generation of international investment arbitration.

World Bank Support

International financial institutions (IFIs) play a role in advocating a certain kind of dispute settlement in…

It is not without reason that a session for the negotiation of trade rules is referred to as a round. It can go on in circular motion, sometimes with little or no substantive progress. So it may seem after the last round of talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). For the sticky issues remain and the details of progress, if any, are not available to the public. CSOs often have to go around in circles seeking details.

Manila

The 17^th Round of RCEP talks were held in Manila through 2-12 May 2017. The 30^th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)…

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is preparing to introduce options contracts and allow the entry of financial institutions in the Indian commodity derivatives market. Detailed guidelines and necessary amendments in the law are currently being worked out to implement these measures in the coming months. The purported objectives behind these measures are to deepen the Indian commodity derivatives market by allowing the entry of financial institutions (such as mutual funds, banks, insurance companies, alternative investment funds and other financial investors) and to widen it by allowing options with commodity futures contracts as underlying. At present, only futures contracts are allowed on…