EX-ANTE IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF INDIA-JAPAN COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (CEPA) ON FISHERY SECTOR

MOUZAM MOHD SHAIKH¹*, G.S. MAHADEVIAH², MURALI KALLUMMAL³, SUBHASH JAGDAMBE^4
1Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, 560065, Karnataka, India
²Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, 560065, Karnataka, India
³Centre for WTO Studies, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi, 110016, Delhi, India
⁴ADRTC, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru, 560072, Karnataka, India
* Corresponding Author : smmouzam@gmail.com

Received : 10-08-2016     Accepted : 24-09-2016     Published : 01-11-2016
Volume : 8     Issue : 53       Pages : 2703 - 2707
Int J Agr Sci 8.53 (2016):2703-2707

Keywords : Trade creation, Trade diversion, Tariff, Export, Import
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, 560065, Karnataka, India; Centre for WTO Studies, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi, 110016, Delhi, India and ADRTC, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru, 560072, Karnataka, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

India and Japan signed a free trade agreement in 2011 called India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IJCEPA). The signing of this agreement had resulted in different views when it comes to Indias Agricultural exports to Japan. The present study focused on impact of India-Japan free trade agreement on fishery sector. The choice of this sector is directed by the fact that India is the second largest producer of fishery products in the world. This study has been performed using Finger-Kreinin (FK) index to know the degree of competitiveness and also an ex-ante partial equilibrium model i.e., SMART model (Software for Market Analysis and Restrictive Trade) to find the resultant trade creation and trade diversion effects from the proposed tariff reduction agreement. This study is based on secondary data sources like WITS database of the World Bank and COMTRADE database of the United Nations. The results obtained from the study suggest that the IJCEPA will lead to considerable increase in exports of fishery products as per the SMART analysis and this increase in exports is mostly driven by trade diversion rather than trade creation replacing efficient exporters of Japan. On the other hand, tariff preferences offered from Indias side creates very little scope for Japan to expand their shares in Indian market. The danger of cheap imports supplanting the domestic products in the Indian markets therefore, is not much. Overall, as per the results obtained from SMART model, IJCEPA will have a favourable effect on Indian fishery sector.

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