The dynamics of India – ASEAN trade with special reference to manufactured exports and their technological composition

Abstract

India’s trade with Southeast Asia received a significant impetus in the early 1990s, with the launching of Look East Policy, after which the partners have been trading intensively and extensively. The study at hand examines the trend and composition of trade from 1992 to 2019, wherein the composition at both, aggregate and disaggregate level at 1, 2 and 3 digit SITC classification has been studied. The study further lays emphasis on technological composition and sophistication in bilateral trade, wherein trade has been studied in terms of the category of technology at the aggregate and disaggregated embodied technology level. The percentage growth in trade between India and ASEAN is found to be promising; with a two digit growth in export and import from 1992 to 2019. Results elucidate a statistically intense trade relationship between the partners, with export and import intensity indices persistently > 1. India’s exports to ASEAN are found to be highly concentrated in the resource based category, while ASEAN’s exports to India are a lot more diversified, having significant exports from the resource-based, high-technology, and medium-technology categories.

Keywords

• asean
• look east policy
• foreign trade
• manufactured export