India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional grouping had completed three decades of diplomatic relations during this year 2022 and the year has been designated as ASEAN–India Friendship Year. As India initiated its ‘Look East Policy Strategy’ in the year 1991, the trade ties progressed between India and the ASEAN from a sectoral dialogue partnership in 1992 to dialogue and summit-level partnerships during the years 1996 and 2002, respectively. Commemorating, the two decades of India–ASEAN relations the trade ties elevated to the strategic partnership between them during the year 2012. It was in the year 2009 India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement got signed, and India–ASEAN Services Agreement was signed in the year 2014. ASEAN views India as the most dynamic and trusted partner of East Asia and is keen to accelerate the trade and investment relations with the new Asian tiger. ASEAN also recognises India’s huge trade potential and views it as a strong balancing and stabilising partner in the Asian region. The bilateral trade between the economies has grown exponentially and reached over US$ 79 billion during the year 2020–2021. India’s investment in ASEAN has been growing and reached US$2012 billion during the year 2020, and ASEAN investment has also been growing in India. Despite an impressive trajectory of trade between India and the ASEAN, there is room for further growth through the integration of India into the Asian value chains. In this background, the study would assess the commodity trade patterns between India and ASEAN by observing the extent of India’s trade intensity and revealed comparative advantage (RCA) advantage and trade competitiveness between India and the ASEAN, the stability of these different indices of RCA were tested, in the light of the analysis few policy suggestions were drawn for future trade between India and the ASEAN.

ASEAN, Look East Policy, regional trade, Act East Policy, India, East Asia, Myanmar, ASEAN, Thailand and Singapore

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