---
title: "India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AIFTA) — Definition"
description: "The India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AIFTA) is a 2009 pact that reduces tariffs on goods, impacting trade between India and ten ASEAN nations."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/india-asean-free-trade-agreement"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- The India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement is a 2009 trade-in-goods pact between India and the ten ASEAN member states that progressively eliminated tariffs on most traded goods.
- When was the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement signed and when did it take effect?
- How does AIFTA differ from RCEP?
- Why has AIFTA been criticised within India?
- What are AIFTA's rules of origin?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

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## Timeline

1. 13 August 2009

   The Trade in Goods Agreement (TIG) was signed at Bangkok on by India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Anand Sharma, and his ASEAN counterparts, and it e…

2. 1 January 2010

   The Trade in Goods Agreement (TIG) was signed at Bangkok on 13 August 2009 by India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Anand Sharma, and his ASEAN counterp…

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Example

In October 2024, at the 21st ASEAN-India Summit in Vientiane, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ASEAN leaders agreed to complete the review of the AIFTA goods agreement by 2025 to make it more business-friendly.

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