NITI Aayog’s warning that India should rethink about joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) forum could not have come at a more appropriate time. The government’s key think-tank had reportedly argued, in a note on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and their costs to highly import-dependent India, that such a partnership could be disastrous to the country. India is one of the world’s biggest import-driven, deficient-balance-of-trade economies. Significantly, India’s joining RCEP would mean a huge market access to China — the key player in the grouping. And, that threatens to unsettle India’s economy and its domestic manufacturing programmes.