India and China have agreed to remove import duties on close to half the goods traded between them under the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) pact, a development that is likely to give the domestic industry sleepless nights. The RCEP countries — which include the 10-member Asean bloc, India, Japan, China, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia — reached a breakthrough on the initial offers for eliminating tariffs on goods at a meeting of trade ministers in Kuala Lumpur late last month. “India and China have agreed to remove duties on 42.5 per cent of traded items in the initial offers,” an industry representative who attended a recent stakeholder meeting in New Delhi told BusinessLine. “We are nervous as no sector would want zero duty access for Chinese goods. But a pragmatic approach needs to be taken as we will also gain duty-free access into China,” the industry representative added.