Integrating South and Southeast Asia through Services Value Chain: The Cases of India and Thailand

Abstract

ii 1. Overview, Composition and Trends in Trade in Services – India and Thailand iii 1.1 Bilateral Trade in Services: India and Thailand v 1.2 Investment Flows v 1.3 Reforms in the Services Sector and Creation of Value Chains vi 2. Primary Survey: Key Findings ix 2.1 Broad Survey Findings x 2.2 In-depth Survey of Select Services Sectors xii 2.2.1 Physical Connectivity xii 2.2.1 People-to-people Connectivity 18 2.2.3 Institutional connectivity 20 3. Barriers to Bilateral Trade and Investments 20 3.1 Barriers Related to Investment and Movement of People in Thailand 21 3.2 Barriers Related to Investment and Movement of People in India 23 4. Liberalisation in International Trade Agreements 24 4.1 Multilateral Liberalisation 24 4.2 Bilateral and Regional Liberalisation 25 4.2.1 Regional Agreements 25 4.2.2 Bilateral Agreements 27 5. Conclusion and the Way forward 31 Appendix 1 34 References 36 List of Tables & Figures Table 1: India and Thailand Global Trade in Service in 2014 (in US$ million) iii Table 2: RCAs of India and Thailand in Exports of Services iv Table 3: Value Added Embodied in Exports of India by Select Countries in 2009 viii Table 4: Sector-wise Value Added by Thailand in India’s Exports in 2009 viii Table 5: Design and Coverage of India and Thailand’s Bilateral Agreements 29 Table A1: List of India’s FTAs and PTAs that include Services (as on October 2013) 34 Table A2: List of Thailand’s FTAs and PTAs that include Services (as on October 2013) ......... 35 Figure 1: Factors Determining Investment Decisions for Indian Companies in Thailand x Figure 2: Select Infrastructure Projects for ASEAN–India Connectivity 15 Figure 3: Ranks of Barriers faced by Indian Companies in Thailand 22