India-China FTA not in near future: Nath

Negotiations on the proposed India-China free trade agreement will have to wait, as a final decision in this regard will be taken only after a meeting between Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and his Chinese counterpart.

A joint task force report, prepared by officials of both the countries, has recommended the feasibility of an FTA between both the countries.

"Negotiations on free trade agreement (FTA) between India and China will not start in the near future this year. The Prime Ministers of both India and China in their recent meeting had decided to recommend the report of the joint task force to the commerce ministers of both the countries. We will be holding a meeting on this to decide what we should do," said Nath, at the sidelines of the CII partnership summit held in Gurgaon.

Nath said he would consult industry before going ahead with FTA negotiations. Indian industry is against an FTA with China, unless the country conforms to the WTO norms, abolishes an controlled exchange rate and stops subsidising exports.

In 2004, Indian exports exceeded Chinese imports by $ 400 million. Chinese imports are likely to exceed Indian exports by $ 12 billion by end of fiscal.

Currently, India-China bilateral trade is worth $ 38.6 billion and is likely to exceed $ 40 billion by this fiscal end. The two countries have set a bilateral trade target of $ 60 billion by 2010.