India developing index to measure restrictiveness

India is in the process of preparing an index to rank eight major trading partners with whom it is negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs). The index will help ascertain the restrictiveness of these countries with respect to cross-border movement of professionals, a major concession sought by India in negotiations. The Ministry of Commerce & Industry will be ranking countries including US, Canada,
Australia, the Netherlands and India, and the index will evaluate them on criteria like entry barriers, discriminatory measures, competition barriers and transparency in regulation on the index, on the lines of OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index.