If everything goes well, Thai massage parlours and spas will soon make a foray into India.
A yoga-for-massage barter proposal which is doing the rounds in the Commerce Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs may break the logjam with Thailand over the free trade agreements (FTAs).
As per the FTAs, Thai massage parl
At a time when the government officials privy to the negotiations say that the money earned by Thai operators can be repatriated without any tax deductions, the external affairs ministry wants a compromise formula from Bangkok: yoga parlours in Thailand.
Earlier, South Block had asked the Ministry of Commerce to reexamine some of the key free trade agreements (FTAs) that India had signed with Singapore, Japan, South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
According to it, India had failed to achieve the main objective of leveraging the services trade with those countries. Officials, however, hope to clinch the deal with Thailand.
India is also looking to expand cooperation with Bangkok with the increasing activities of anti- India groups in that country and Indian mafia dons in South East Asia. India has been in talks over FTAs with Thailand since 2004 when both the sides launched the Early Harvest Scheme, under which duties on the import of 82 items were abolished.
The government, which is yet to take a decision on Thai massage parlours, may come under fire from moral policing groups and Ayurveda massage parlours that may have to see their business eroding.
Sources say while the government will come up with several safeguards to ensure that only genuine Thai spas and massage parlours would come in, the move will also boost the tourism industry in India.
At the same time, critics suspect whether Indian yoga parlours would be able to make it big in the Thai market. As part of its economic diplomacy, India had gone on an overdrive and signed a number of agreements but failed miserably in augmenting its exports.
The issue of a services agreement was also flagged during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meet with his Thailand counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra who stressed on a comprehensive free trade.
The second protocol to amend the framework agreement for establishing FTA between Thailand and India was signed during the Thai PM’s visit to India in January 2012.
Also, the India-ASEAN agreement on trade in goods was signed in Bangkok in August 2009 by Commerce & Industry Minister Anand Sharma. It was operationalised on January 1, 2010.
The services and investment chapters of the India-ASEAN FTA were concluded in December 2012. Bilateral trade between India and Thailand has multiplied eight times since 2000 to reach $8.68billion in 2012.