Importing From India Under APTA

APTA is the only trade agreement in which India and China give each other tariff preferences. That surprises most people, and it's a good way into an agreement that's older than almost everyone reading this. It started in 1975 as the Bangkok Agreement, an initiative of the UN's Asia-Pacific commission (ESCAP, APTA (opens in a new tab)), and it still links India with South Korea, China, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Laos and Sri Lanka.

For a buyer in one of those countries, the useful question is simple. Does APTA give you anything a better agreement doesn't? Usually not, and we'll show you why, but there's one case where it's your only preference. The caveat - we haven't read each member's concession list, so we can't tell you which of your lines carry a margin.

Last researched 28 September 2026 · Next review 24 November 2026 · Written by SourcingFrom

The decision in brief is in the playbook: Exporting and trade → /india/#trade. This is the bloc page.

1. One Number, No Tariff Shift

APTA's origin rule is the simplest of all India's agreements. Content from outside the member countries must not exceed 55% of the FOB value, and least-developed members get 10 extra percentage points (Bangkok Agreement text, commerce.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). There's no change-of-heading test to argue over. The proof is a certificate of origin from an authority the exporting government designates, and for Indian goods that's the agency list on Exporting from India.

That makes it easy to check against a bill of materials. The catch is coverage. APTA preferences apply only to the lines each member has put on its national list, which ESCAP publishes with the fourth-round results (ESCAP, National Lists of Tariff Concessions (opens in a new tab)). Find your line there before you count on anything.

2. When Something Else Wins

Most APTA members have a better route to Indian goods.

South Korea has the India-Korea CEPA, with 35% regional value content plus a change of subheading and a government-designated certificate (CEPA text (opens in a new tab)). Korean buyers should start there. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are covered by the bilateral FTA and SAFTA, see SAFTA. Laos is in AITIGA, see ASEAN.

That leaves Mongolia, where APTA is the only agreement with India, and China, where APTA exists on paper while trade in the direction our readers care about is small. We don't cover China as a buyer of Indian goods in depth, and China as a competing source belongs on a comparison page, not here.

Why start with the bilateral deal even where APTA's rule looks easier? Because the supplier has probably issued that certificate before, and a certificate your supplier knows how to get right is worth more than a margin on paper.

3. Your Country's Page

Open yours - Bangladesh, China, Laos, Mongolia, South Korea or Sri Lanka.

Next Step

Every Indian agreement is on India's trade agreements.