View: Staying out of RCEP is not in India's economic interests

RCEP would have been an easier agreement for India to sign, as compared to any other pacts with US or EU.

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Earlier this week, India announced that it was dropping out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Its exit came amid a wide array of assertions from commentators — with some claiming that India’s past trade agreements had harmed its economy and that RCEP would do worse, others going further to demand a return to the inglorious days of ‘selfsufficiency’, and yet others insisting that the withdrawal reflected the weakness of the government against the efforts of protectionist lobbies.

What were the actual outcomes under India’s past trade agreements? Did they hurt the Indian economy? What lessons do they hold for India with respect to RCEP or other future trade deals?