For businesses shipping goods between Southeast Asia and India, a trade agreement delivers value when it makes orders easier to fulfill and costs more predictable. Negotiators meeting in Jakarta on October 6–9 sought to move that ambition forward, accelerating a review of the ASEAN–India Trade in Goods Agreement, or AITIGA, while leaving substantive negotiations unfinished.
Moving Towards Clearer Commitments
The 15th AITIGA Joint Committee meeting at the ASEAN Secretariat directed its eight subcommittees to speed up outstanding work and establish time-bound deliverables. Three also met alongside the main negotiations, covering legal and institutional issues, national treatment and market access, and rules of origin.
India’s Nitin Kumar Yadav and Malaysia’s Mastura Ahmad Mustafa co-chaired the hybrid meeting. According to India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the next round will take place in India in January 2027. Its announcement did not disclose new tariff concessions or completed sector-specific agreements. The immediate outcome was therefore a stronger negotiating timetable, with market-access changes still to be settled.
Updating a Partnership Worth Billions
Signed in 2009 and implemented from 2010, AITIGA helped establish the framework for expanding goods trade. Its review now faces a different commercial landscape, shaped by interconnected manufacturing, changing sourcing strategies and growing concern about trade imbalances.
India’s merchandise exports to ASEAN reached US$38.96 billion in the 2024–25 financial year, while imports totalled US$84.16 billion, producing a deficit of US$44.20 billion. The imbalance is measured in billions of dollars, substantially exceeding the figure in the initial briefing.
India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal outlined his position in July 2025: “Looking forward to fast-tracking discussions with ASEAN Member States to ensure fair trade and balanced growth.”
From ASEAN’s perspective, the relationship also brings export earnings, investment and opportunities to diversify markets. ASEAN’s preliminary statistics recorded US$106.9 billion in two-way trade during calendar year 2024 and US$3.3 billion in investment inflows from India. These figures use a different reporting period and statistical basis from India’s financial-year accounts.
Making Trade Preferences Easier to Use
One central issue is determining which products qualify for preferential tariffs. Rules of origin establish that eligibility, making them especially important for manufacturers using components sourced from several countries.
For a Southeast Asian producer, the practical challenge is demonstrating that its goods satisfy the agreement’s requirements. For Indian authorities, verification helps prevent ineligible products from obtaining concessions merely by passing through another country.
India has raised concerns about origin compliance and barriers facing its exporters. However, those concerns should not be treated as proof that regional supply chains are inherently improper. Effective rules need to distinguish legitimate production from circumvention without creating unnecessary delays.
The Jakarta announcement confirms that origin rules remain under discussion. It does not establish that negotiators adopted a unified digital certificate or eliminated additional verification procedures.
Opening Opportunities Across the Bay of Bengal
The commercial stakes extend from Indonesian and Malaysian commodity suppliers to manufacturers serving regional production networks. For smaller exporters, predictable documentation and transparent requirements can be as valuable as a lower tariff.
Consider a manufacturer pricing an order for an overseas buyer: uncertainty over customs treatment can affect delivery commitments and profit margins. Clearer procedures could make such transactions easier to plan, although the benefits will depend on the final agreement and its implementation.
Malaysia’s then investment, trade and industry minister, Tengku Zafrul Aziz, captured the modernisation challenge at the September 2025 ASEAN–India economic consultation: “However, a decade on, the world has changed, and so must our agreement.”
Updating the pact also requires care. Product standards and health checks serve legitimate public purposes. The objective should be transparent, proportionate requirements that protect consumers while allowing compliant businesses to trade efficiently.
Turning Negotiations Into Deliveries
The January 2027 meeting will provide the next checkpoint for assessing progress. Exporters will be looking for concrete provisions, implementation schedules and practical guidance.
Jakarta has renewed momentum, but the commercial test remains ahead: whether the revised agreement makes cross-border business more accessible, predictable and beneficial on both sides of the Bay of Bengal.
