Analysis of India’s Competitive Position in RCEP

2021 ◽  
pp. 097226292110036
Author(s):  
Amlan Ray ◽  
M. G. Deepika ◽  
G. Badri Narayanan
Keyword(s):  
Value Added ◽  
Limited Participation ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Opt Out ◽  
The Future ◽  
Core Areas ◽  
Economic Partnership ◽  
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ◽  
Tariff Structure ◽  
Areas Of Interest

In the context of policy developments surrounding India’s opting out of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and India’s lack of ventures in plurilateral regional trade agreements (RTAs), we attempt to analyse the competitiveness and potential of Indian export items in the RCEP region. Our findings show low export intensity for India with RCEP member countries. Higher revealed comparative advantage (RCA) and duty reduction in partner countries may help India in enhancing exports of only a few commodities. India has high RCA in commodities, for which the tariffs by RCEP countries are already moderate. Considering India’s present trade balance position, tariff structure, non-tariff barriers (NTBs) of partner countries, intellectual property rights (IPR) and export competitiveness of Indian commodities, it appears to us that India had limited options but to opt out of RCEP. While the members of RCEP are still open to accepting India, more needs to be worked out on building competitiveness for Indian commodities and the future strategy for negotiations, if India considers itself to be a part of RCEP in the future. Given its limited participation in regional blocks, India should identify its core areas of interest in goods and services where it can enhance its competitiveness and attain better trade performance using strategic bilateral negotiations and possibly exploit imported inputs to promote higher value-added exports.

scholarly journals India's Goods and Services Tax: A Unique Experiment in Cooperative Federalism and a Constitutional Crisis in Waiting

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 391-445
Author(s):  
Ajitesh Kir
Keyword(s):  
Market Integration ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Design Feature ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
National Market ◽  
Opt Out ◽  
Cooperative Federalism

It has long been argued that federal countries, especially those with strong subnational taxing powers, might face difficulty in implementing a federal value-added tax (VAT) because of coordination issues involved, and therefore might be reluctant to adopt one. This article provides insights on how VAT structures are evolving in federal systems, where different tiers of government have separate (and sometimes overlapping) taxation powers. While the author focuses mainly on India's recently enacted goods and services tax (GST), he also offers a comparative perspective, with reference to the GST/VAT systems in Canada, Brazil, and the European Union, thus adding to the hitherto limited body of scholarly work on VAT coordination in federal jurisdictions. The GST is arguably India's biggest tax reform in several decades. Introduced primarily to create a unified national market and bring an end to tax wars and economic distortions, the tax reform's chief slogan was "GST—one-nation-one-tax-one-market." This article takes a closer look at a unique institutional design feature of the Indian GST—a centre-state body called the GST council. What makes this body unique is that it is envisaged as functioning on the principles of cooperative federalism. But can a concurrent tax system, whose very survival is based on cooperative federalism, guarantee a unified national market? If yes, for how long? The author highlights the role of the GST council in market integration and explains why the council has succeeded on several fronts while failing on others. He also addresses an unresolved constitutional issue that could affect the GST council's ability to function as the fulcrum for cooperative federalism—namely, the question of whether its decisions are binding. The uncertainty surrounding this issue could lead to a constitutional crisis if one or more states decide to opt out. The author discusses four possible ways to deal with this impending crisis.

Exclusionary Rules of Origin of Mega-RTAs under WTO Law: Mega-RTA ‘Fracturing’ Its Overlapping RTA

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
JONG BUM KIM
Keyword(s):  
Value Added ◽  
Intermediate Goods ◽  
Rules Of Origin ◽  
Intermediate Inputs ◽  
Legal Remedy ◽  
Economic Partnership ◽  
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

AbstractA mega-RTA such as the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) or the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) may overlap another RTA, with the result that some of the parties to the mega-RTA's overlapping RTA may become common parties, while others may remain as single-agreement parties. If the mega-RTA provides rules of origin based on the change in tariff classification (CTC)-with-exception criterion such as yarn-forward rules, the rules of origin will become more restrictive with respect to the imports of the excluded intermediate goods from the single-agreement parties after the formation of the mega-RTA than before, thus failing to meet the requirement under GATT Article XXIV:5. The exclusionary rules of origin of the mega-RTA draw the trade away from the single-agreement parties, causing ‘fracture’ in the mega-RTA's overlapping RTA. As a legal remedy to the problem, the mega-RTA should eliminate the restriction from the CTC-with-exception criterion by adopting the rules of origin based on the non-exclusionary criteria such as the value-added or the CTC criterion that does not presumptively exclude the use of certain non-originating intermediate inputs.

India’s Economic Integration in Services with ASEAN: From Bilateral FTAs to RCEP

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-223
Author(s):  
Pralok Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Economic Integration ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Services Trade ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Opt Out ◽  
Economic Partnership ◽  
Partnership Agreement ◽  
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

Given the growing importance of services in Indian economy as well as in international trade, India has offensive interests in services and these are becoming an important part of India’s effort to economically integrate with global economies including Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This article analyses India’s economic integration with the ASEAN region in services trade and discusses how India’s services trade interests are taken into consideration by ASEAN members in their free trade agreements with India. It also discusses services-related aspects in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, a proposed free trade agreement among ASEAN and its six FTA partners including India, from which India has decided to opt-out recently. JEL Codes: F13, F14, F15

Trade Creation or Trade Diversion in ASEAN and ASEAN+6 FTAs: Trade Indicators Approach

2015 ◽  
pp. 25-41
Author(s):  
Anh Tu Thuy ◽  
Ngoc Le Minh
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Advantage ◽  
Wheat Gluten ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Private Investment ◽  
Trade Diversion ◽  
Trade Creation ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Trade Area ◽  
Economic Partnership ◽  
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

This paper makes use of two trade indicators, Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) and Regional Orientation (RO), to evaluate the economic impacts of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (The) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on Vietnamese commodities at the Harmonized System (HS) 2-digit level. Several sectors in which Vietnam has revealed a comparative advantage, has benefited from the AFTA, and would continue to enjoy trade creation from the RCEP, are: Cereals (10), Salt, sulphur, earth, stone, plaster, lime and cement (25), Rubber (40), Knitted or crocheted fabric (60), etc. More importantly, the result provides a list of commodities in which Vietnam has a comparative advantage and only experiences trade creation when participating in the RCEP. These are: Milling products, malt, starches, inulin, wheat gluten (11), Vegetable plaiting materials, vegetable products not elsewhere specified (14), Wood and articles of wood, wood charcoal (44), etc. Findings also show commodities in which Vietnam has a comparative advantage; but are not well positioned in the RCEP market yet, e.g. Cereal, flour, starch, milk preparations and products (19) and Manmade staple fibres (55). If sufficient investment decisions and marketing strategies are applied to these commodities, they will well penetrate the RCEP market and bring trade creation and welfare improvement to Vietnam. Public and private investment should consider the above-mentioned commodities as targets to leapfrog the benefits of RCEP.

scholarly journals Method of value chain mapping with international input–output data: application to the agricultural value chain in three Greater Mekong Subregion countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ikuo Kuroiwa
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Input Output ◽  
Output Data ◽  
Primary Input ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Unit Structure ◽  
Data Application ◽  
Final Output ◽  
Greater Mekong Subregion

AbstractExtending the technique of unit structure analysis, which was originally developed by Ozaki (J Econ 73(5):720–748, 1980), this study introduces a method of value chain mapping that uses international input–output data and reveals both the upstream and downstream transactions of goods and services, as well as primary input (value added) and final output (final demand) transactions, which emerge along the entire value chain. This method is then applied to the agricultural value chain of three Greater Mekong Subregion countries: Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The results show that the agricultural value chain has been increasingly internationalized, although there is still room to benefit from participating in global value chains, especially in a country such as Cambodia. Although there are some constraints regarding the methodology and data, the method proves useful in tracing the entire value chain.

Does tax policy fit in the portfolio of COVID-19 responses?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerrie Sadiq ◽  
Richard Krever
Keyword(s):  
Tax Policy ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Income Support ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Tax Regimes ◽  
The Uk

Purpose Tax policymakers are currently navigating a path through a delicate dialectic of macro- and micro-level policy responses to the economic dislocation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to examine initial tax measures that are aimed at helping taxpayers needing liquidity, solvency and income support. Design/methodology/approach This study undertakes a review of key tax policy responses of six jurisdictions across the globe that have similar tax regimes and virus mitigation strategies (albeit with different outcomes). Key initiatives implemented from February to April 2020 by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and the UK are examined. Findings This study indicates that tax concessions are a crude and mostly ineffective way of assisting individuals and enterprises in difficulty. In the longer term, if the crisis prompts desirable reforms such as extending the recognition of tax losses, the income tax system will emerge fairer and more efficient. Practical implications An investigation of the short-term reforms announced relating to asset write-offs, tax deferral, tax losses and goods and services tax/value-added tax rates in light of the liquidity, income support and stimulus objectives shows that in some cases the policies may have been misguided. The findings can be used by policymakers as the basis for designing better targeted alternative non-tax responses. Originality/value Jurisdictional responses to tax policy reforms during a modern period of significant economic dislocation have yet to be documented in the literature. Specifically, this paper highlights the limitations of tax policy initiatives as a response to financial hardship.

Respon ASEAN Terhadap Mundurnya India Dari Kerja Sama Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

2020 ◽  
pp. 183-202
Author(s):  
Raden Maisa Yudono ◽  
Wiwiek Rukmi Dwi Astuti ◽  
M. Chairil Akbar Setiawan
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Advantage ◽  
Economic Cooperation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Geographic Proximity ◽  
Strategic Partner ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Economic Partnership ◽  
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ◽  
Static Point

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a cooperation framework formulated by ASEAN and 6 strategic partner countries and is the first proposal in ASEAN history to discuss comprehensive economic cooperation. RCEP is ASEAN's effort to strengthen its position as regional aktor in the Southeast Asian. RCEP negotiations underwent changes during India's decision to withdraw from the RCEP negotiations, which prompted ASEAN to respond to these developments. This study fokuses on response taken by ASEAN to India's decision to withdraw from the RCEP negotiations. The concept used is soft regionalism which emphasizes geographic proximity, historical relations and the comparative advantage of the region. Soft regionalism is driven by not only by economic and business interests, but also market interests that become the energy of soft regionalism in Asia. This concept is functioning well because it conforms to the pragmatic Asian political conditions. The findings of this study is that ASEAN cannot be separated from the concept of soft regionalism in which it has been running, and still sees all changes through static point of view. ASEAN needs to make new breakthroughs in realizing comprehensive cooperation in the region.

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