Part I · Chapter 6
South-East Asia
Why has India's trade agreement with its South-East Asian neighbours delivered less than it promised, and how can an Indian business still profit from the region? This chapter is for exporters who assume a zero duty is waiting for them across the Bay of Bengal, and for manufacturers who keep losing orders to Vietnamese quotes. It reads the bloc as a relationship with several sides: a large trading partner, an agreement India regrets, a rival, a back door for Chinese goods, and since 2026 a shipping hub that took business from the Gulf. Singapore appears twice, as a premium shelf for small branded goods and as a transit desk whose headline numbers overstate what a small exporter can reach. Vietnam is studied as both competitor and customer. Indonesia and Malaysia turn on halal certification, which the chapter presents as the credential a small firm can afford. Two further markets follow, one built on car-making supply chains and one on Indian generic medicines. Afterwards you can tell where the region will reward your product and where the agreement only looks open.
Key ideas
- Cheaper Indian labour does not mean a cheaper product: against Vietnam's productivity, foreign-built factories and earlier access to Europe, India wins where depth of skill counts for more than assembly speed.
- A small firm can buy with halal certification what no advertising budget buys: Indonesia bars uncertified food from its shelves, and Malaysia's mark is honoured as far as the Gulf.
- A trade agreement is only as useful as its schedule for one exact product line, and in this region the lines left closed and the checks on origin matter more than the headline promise of zero duty.
See the region’s dashboard on the South-East Asia hub.