IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ris/adbrei/0032.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

India’s Role in South Asia Trade and Investment Integration

Author

Listed:
  • Kumar, Rajiv

    (Indian Council for Research on International Economics Relations)

  • Singh, Manjeeta

    (Indian Council for Research on International Economics Relations)

Abstract

Recent developments in South Asian countries, especially the re-emergence of democratic governments, new growth momentum despite the global economic downturn and greater openness, warrant a fresh look at the region’s prospects for economic integration. On the basis of a thorough review of the literature on potential and prospects of regional integration in South Asia and after examining the trends in intra-SAARC trade and investment flows, this paper finds that the progress in regional cooperation has been far short of potential. The paper, therefore, focuses on the ‘real impediments’ to regional integration and on that basis makes a set of policy oriented recommendations for furthering deeper regional integration in South Asia. It also emphasizes that given its dominant size, human resources, and aspirations for a global role, India will have to take on a disproportionately larger responsibility for promoting regional cooperation in South Asia. However, regional integration will not be achieved by India’s unilateral actions alone. Neighboring governments will have to respond positively to Indian initiatives for successful regional integration in South Asia.

Suggested Citation

  • Kumar, Rajiv & Singh, Manjeeta, 2009. "India’s Role in South Asia Trade and Investment Integration," Working Papers on Regional Economic Integration 32, Asian Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:adbrei:0032
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://aric.adb.org/pdf/workingpaper/WP32_Indias_Role_in_South_Asia_Trade.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hassan, M. Kabir, 2001. "Is SAARC a viable economic block? evidence from gravity model," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 263-290.
    2. Samantak Das & Sanjib Pohit, 2006. "Quantifying Transport, Regulatory and Other Costs of Indian Overland Exports to Bangladesh," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(9), pages 1227-1242, September.
    3. Rahman, Mohammad Mafizur, 2005. "Bangladesh-India Bilateral Trade: Causes of Imbalance and Measures for Improvement," Working Papers 1, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    4. Aradhna Aggarwal, 2008. "Regional Economic Integration and FDI in South Asia - Prospects and Problems," Macroeconomics Working Papers 22141, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    5. Michael G. Plummer & Reid W. Click, 2009. "The ASEAN Economic Community and the European Experience," Chapters, in: Koichi Hamada & Beate Reszat & Ulrich Volz (ed.), Towards Monetary and Financial Integration in East Asia, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Crawford, Jo-Ann & Fiorentino, Roberto V., 2005. "The changing landscape of regional trade agreements," WTO Discussion Papers 8, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    7. Wilson, John S. & Otsuki, Tsunehiro, 2007. "Regional integration in South Asia : what role for trade facilitation ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4423, The World Bank.
    8. Aradhna Aggarwal, "undated". "Regional Economic Integration and FDI in South Asia : Prospects and Problems," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi Working Papers 218, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, India.
    9. Arvind Panagariya, 2003. "South Asia: Does Preferential Trade Liberalisation Make Sense?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(9), pages 1279-1291, September.
    10. Kabir, ASM, 2007. "Sanguinity and aspiration toward South Asian Regional integration: a case study of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Agreement," MPRA Paper 3871, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Nigel Nagarajan, 1998. "MERCOSUR and Trade Diversion: What Do The Import Figures Tell Us?," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 129, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    12. Jayatilleke S. Bandara & Wusheng Yu, 2003. "How Desirable is the South Asian Free Trade Area? A Quantitative Economic Assessment," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(9), pages 1293-1323, September.
    13. Pitigala, Nihal, 2005. "What does regional trade in South Asia reveal about future trade integration? Some empirical evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3497, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shiro Patrick Armstrong, 2015. "East and South Asia: Managing Difficult Bilateral Relations and Regional Integration Globally," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 29(4), pages 303-324, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rajiv Kumar, 2011. "SAARC: Changing Realities, Opportunities and Challenges," Chapters, in: Ulrich Volz (ed.), Regional Integration, Economic Development and Global Governance, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Raihan, Selim, 2012. "SAFTA and the South Asian Countries: Quantitative Assessments of Potential Implications," MPRA Paper 37884, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Raihan, Selim, 2011. "Economic Corridors in South Asia: Exploring the Benefits of Market Access and Trade Facilitation," MPRA Paper 37883, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Hossain, Sharif M., 2009. "South Asian Free Trade Area: Implications for Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 18517, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Ahmed, Saira & Ahmed, Vaqar & Sohail, Safdar, 2010. "Trade agreements between developing countries: a case study of Pakistan - Sri Lanka free trade agreement," MPRA Paper 29209, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. De, Prabir & Raihan, Selim & Kathuria, Sanjay, 2012. "Unlocking Bangladesh-India trade : emerging potential and the way forward," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6155, The World Bank.
    7. Prabir De & Abdur Rob Khan & Sachin Chaturvedi, 2008. "Transit and Trade Barriers in Eastern South Asia: A Review of the Transit Regime and Performance of Strategic Border-Crossings," Working Papers 5608, Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT), an initiative of UNESCAP and IDRC, Canada..
    8. A. Ganesh Kumar & Gordhan Kumar Saini, 2007. "Economic co-operation in South Asia: The Dilemma of SAFTA and beyond," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2007-017, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    9. Rakesh Kumar, 2021. "South Asia: Multilateral trade agreements and untapped regional trade integration," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 2891-2903, April.
    10. Dushni Weerakoon, 2010. "The Political Economy of Trade Integration in South Asia: The Role of India," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(7), pages 916-927, July.
    11. Mustafizur Rahman & Towfiqul Islam Khan & Ashiqun Nabi & Tapas Kumar Paul, 2010. "Bangladesh's Export Opportunities in the Indian Market : Addressing Barriers and Strategies for Future," Trade Working Papers 23060, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    12. Prema-chandra Athukorala, 2014. "Intra-regional FDI and Economic Integration in South Asia," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 15(1), pages 1-35, March.
    13. Elbehri, Aziz & Hertel, Thomas, 2006. "A Comparative Analysis of the EU-Morocco FTA vs. Multilateral Liberalization," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 21, pages 496-525.
    14. A. Ganesh Kumar & Gordhan K. Saini, 2009. "Economic Cooperation in South Asia," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 4(2), pages 253-281, July.
    15. Antra Bhatt & Manas Puri & Andrea Appolloni, 2012. "SEZ Proliferation in India: Are the Objectives Being Realized?," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 19(1), pages 79-88, September.
    16. Mustafizur Rahman & Wasel Bin Shadat & Narayan Chandra Das, 2006. "Trade Potential in SAFTA: An Application of Augmented Gravity Model," CPD Working Paper 61, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
    17. Elbehri, Aziz & Hertel, Thomas, 2006. "A Comparative Analysis of the EU-Morocco FTA vs. Multilateral Liberalization," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 21, pages 496-525.
    18. Dyomina, Ya., 2018. "Economic Integration in East Asia: Challenges for the Russian Far East," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 38(2), pages 178-186.
    19. Mohammad Zillur Rahman, 2011. "An Empirical Study on the Relationship between Foreign Investment and International Trade in Bangladesh," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 2(2), pages 33-39, July.
    20. Ur-Rashid, Hamid Haroon & Khan, Muhammad Aamir, 2024. "Standards and non-tariff barriers in trade – A case study of South Asia," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 427-437.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    South Asia; economic integration; regional trade; foreign direct investment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ris:adbrei:0032. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ivan B. de Leon (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/oradbph.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.