The Hindu Explains | Why did India stay out of the RCEP deal?

November 22, 2020 02:00 am | Updated December 04, 2021 10:32 pm IST The story so far: On November 15, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership was signed by 15 countries led by China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and the 10-country ASEAN group. After long negotiations, India exited the grouping last November, saying it wanted to protect its economy from rising trade deficits with a number of RCEP members. “If you look at India’s experience with the already signed free trade agreements with the ASEAN group, South Korea and Japan, you will see that India's trade deficit with these countries or groups rose very sharply during this period,” says R. Ramakumar, NABARD Chair Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, who backs India’s decision to quit RCEP, saying that between 2011 and 2019. Interview | Leaving RCEP was a short-sighted decision, says former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran The next big question is whether India will accept the invitation from RCEP countries to be an “observer” at their meetings. Without mentioning RCEP directly, the Minister was saying that India does not plan to use the special window at present, and rather than suffer trade deficits that had been the outcome of various FTAs India had signed, India would prefer to go it alone, or as he put it, have “the courage to think through the problem for ourselves”.