ASEAN India Connectivity Report

India's strong economic growth has made a significant impact on Asian economy. Its trade with Asia is expected to increase manifolds in the coming years. The India-ASEAN free trade agreement (FTA) is central to India's growing engagement with her eastern neighbours. However, accompanying this growth will be an increase in the demand for improved connectivity to foster production and consumption at national level as well as for international trade purposes. Undoubtedly, failure to respond to this demand will slow down the pace of economic exchange and ultimately the economic integration process. Therefore, the challenge is to improve India's connectivity with ASEAN as well as with the rest of the world. The Comprehensive Asia Development Plan (CADP), designed by the Economic Reearch Institute of ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) on request of the East Asia Summit (EAS) members, provides a grand spatial design for infrastructure development in East Asia. As explicitly stated in the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity ASEAN Emphasizes the need for stronger connectivity with neighbouring countries, including India and other EAS countries. The present report, titled 'ASEAN-India Connectiity India Country Study', has been prepared by RIS to fulfil the mandate of CADP Phase 2. This Report outlines an appropriate strategy to enhance the physical connectivity between ASEAN and India. It recommends two major axis that could be promoted to enhance this physical the first one is surface connectivity through India's North East Region (NER) and the second one is multimodal connectivity through Southern India, primarily through Chennai-Ennore area. The Report argues that ASEAN-India connectivity would help unlock the tremendous growth potential of the region by removing constraints and bottlenecks to economic development. The Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), a New Delhi based autonomous think tank under the Ministry of External Affai