India, Sept. 4 -- Rakesh Mohan, member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), on Thursday said India has room to reduce import duties and should aim to bring them down to ASEAN levels to enhance competitiveness and global trade integration.

He said the world trading system is increasingly governed by large regional trading blocs such as the European Union, the USMCA in North America, RCEP in Asia, and the CPTPP spanning Asia and the Pacific. This shift, he said, makes it important for India to recalibrate its trade strategy.

"I do believe there is room for reducing a lot of our tariffs and bringing them down at least to the ASEAN levels. And that will be very good for us. Now, one implication of that is that th...