India wants industry protected in China-backed trade deal: minister

September 11, 2019

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Piyush Goyal gestures as he speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 23, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India will only sign a 16-member Asia-Pacific trade pact if its local industry is protected and if the deal would not lead to indiscriminate imports, the trade minister said on Wednesday.

Talks are ongoing to negotiate the China-initiated Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Piyush Goyal said, without specifying whether India would sign the deal in 2019.

New Delhi had asked South Korea and Japan to review free trade agreements with India, he added.