India-Thailand Free Trade Agreement

India has recently inked a free trade agreement (FTA) with Thailand for setting up of a free trade area covering goods, services and investment in 10 years. The Indo-Thai FTA covers as many as 84 items and several areas in the first phase including services, investment, economic cooperation and goods like food items, tourism, auto parts, electronic goods. As per the ‘Early harvest scheme (EHS)’ under the agreement, a common list of items for exchange of tariff concession at 6-digit level and tariff on these identified items is slated to be phased out by March 1, 2006.