RCEP deal: India seeks more concessions; dairy sector may be kept out

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal is expected to leave on Friday for the last planned trade ministers' meet on RCEP.

As negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement reach a decisive stage, while sticking to the broader contours of the agreement, India is looking to extract greater concessions from China. It is also  considering whether to insist that dairy be kept out of the negotiations for the time being to protect the interests of farmers.

Sources said the decision to stick to the multi-country negotiations and not abandon it at this stage was taken at a recent review meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Increasingly, sectors such as apparels and MSMEs have turned  vocal against the