Elaborating on the decision, PM Modi said that the present form of the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) Agreement does not fully reflect the basic spirit and the agreed guiding principles of RCEP.
Certain core concerns of India which would impact the livelihood of all Indians, especially the vulnerable sections of the society had still remained unaddressed at the end of seven year-long, twenty-nine round negotiation process.
India already faces 105 billion dollar trade deficit with the RCEP countries, half of which comes from China(53 billion dollars), signing RCEP without addressing this deficit would only increase it further particularly since most of China’s domestic policies are trade-distorting and one-sided.
Duty cuts and flooding of products
The RCEP could have forced India to cut duties on about 90 percent of the goods that are currently imported to India over the next 15 years.
RCEP also wanted 2013 to be fixed as base year effectively implying that member countries should slash import duties on products to the level that existed in 2013.