Most FTA conversations focus on what foreign exporters gain — reduced duties, easier market access, a commercial tailwind. What gets less attention is that the same agreement often accelerates the capabilities of local manufacturers in the same sector. Joint ventures get easier. Technology transfer becomes more attractive. Indian industrial groups that were previously behind on a particular input or component category suddenly have faster, cheaper access to the same global supply chains you came from.
The FTA levelled the playing field. It didn’t tilt it in your favour.
For exporters of manufactured goods and industrial inputs, the more useful question is not whether the FTA reduced your duty burden — it probably did — but whether that reduction is large enough to matter against a local competitor who now has better access to raw materials, equipment, and partnerships than they did two years ago.
Market access is a starting condition. It is not a commercial strategy.
