FTAs with Japan, Korea failed to lift exports: Goyal

. The minister stated that trade pacts of UPA era hurt economy

- MUKESH JAGOTA

INDIAN EXPORTERS CONTINUE to face difficulties in shipping goods to Japan and South Korea despite free trade agreements (FTAs) with both countries, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday.

"Since the signing of the agreements, exports to both these countries have hardly grown, only the imports have grown," he said at the annual conference of The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

India's Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with South Korea came into effect in January 2010,and the CEPA with Japan followed in August 2011.