REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND TRADE PERFORMANCE OF SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES WITH INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

The ratio of we's to I's is the best indicator of development of a team (-Lewis B. Ergen). So here arises the matter of active collaboration, greater cooperation among the countries, states or regions. Therefore, regional integration is indispensible to nurture economic growth and development. Keeping this view in mind, to accelerate welfare of the people of South Asia and to enhance their quality of life, SAARC came into force. As most of the SAARC Countries are underdeveloped, so intra-regional trade expansion is one of the structured ways of fusing to the much larger economy. The process of fusion in South Asia gathered momentum with the implementation of South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) in 1995 under the board frame work of SAARC. South Asia is now the faster growing region in the World and has registered a rapid expansion in trade since 1990s. In 2008, the SAARC share of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in Asia was 7.92 percent and 2.89 percent of the World. A few empirical studies also shows a positive relationship between regional integration and economic growth. Therefore, an attempt has been made to induct the issue of trade performance of South Asian Countries with Indian Perspective