India-ASEAN Cooperation in Services: An Overview

This paper analyses the opportunities in services trade that may arise out of the India-ASEAN Economic Cooperation to makes an assessment of the net gains that could arise from liberalisation of the commercially traded service sector. The study suggests that at least in the medium term, there is a lot to be gained from a bilateral engagement between India and the Members of ASEAN in services, especially as the region remains relatively closed to foreign service providers. The pillars of negotiation should be both market access and other consular cooperation, including signing of MRAs and other related Domestic Regulation issues. This paper is a part of an ongoing scoping study by ICRIER to estimate Indo-ASEAN Trade Opportunities in Services.