India and the 10-country Association of South East Asian Nations have signed a free trade agreement after more than six years of talks.
Tariffs would be lifted on goods - including electronics, chemicals, machinery and textiles - that account for more than 80% of total trade in goods between the two sides. The deal excluded software and information technology.
The agreement allowed India to protect its agricultural sector by excluding 489 products, mostly commodities including rubber, from tariff cuts. Tariffs on a much smaller list of products described as "highly sensitive", including palm oil and coffee, would be reduced over about 10 years, but only modestly.
The agreement will be effective from 1 January 2010 and tariffs on the products covered would be reduced to zero between 2013 and 2016.
The agreement was signed in Bangkok on the sidelines of a meeting of economic ministers of ASEAN - grouping Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
ASEAN is India's fourth-largest trading partner after the European Union, the United States and China.
