NEW DELHI: The withdrawal of the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement will not directly affect India and most experts view it as a development that will ease pressure on the country to become a part of big trade blocs.The government said it is watching the situation. “We can only observe what is going on... since India is not a part of it,“ commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry event on services on Tuesday.US President Donald Trump pulled out of the TPP through a presidential memorandum on Monday.The US had been looking to rewrite trade rules through the TPP and there was considerable pressure on India to look at its own regional trade grouping, the 16-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The pressure was high on India since the two trade blocs have seven common members including Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. There was also a sense that the emphasis was shifting away from the World Trade Organization to bilateral arrangements and trade blocs.“There is some sense of relief because it will put a pause on some standards that were being set in the TPP on issues such as intellectual property. However, the threat of such standards is not gone. We also have to keep an eye on China because the picture of global trade would change if it takes the reins of TPP,“ said Biswajit Dhar, professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University.The move is also a breather for textile exports, which were at risk because of the TPP's Yarn Forward Rule. The rule mandates that only fabrics produced from yarn made by a TPP country can qualify for dutyfree status.“It is a good development for the country because India's exports of intermediate goods to TPP countries might have got hit in case norms like the Yarn Forward Rule had come into place,“ said Ajay Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations.India will, however, need to keep an eye on the situation. “Instead of TPP, the US might sign individual agreements with these countries.The TPP doesn't impact us much.However, we must be wary of some TPP provisions sneaking into the WTO,“ said Abhijit Das, head of the Centre for WTO Studies at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade in New Delhi.