| Summary/Abstract |
Several factors have acted as bottleneck towards regional integration within South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It ranges from Indo-Pak hostility and motivated Chinese interventions to ‘big brother small brother’ syndrome within the region. Accordingly, economic integration at the behest of SAARC as a Regional Organization has always been questioned and has largely been rendered failure. South Asia is the fastest growing region in the world. The combined economy of the SAARC countries is the third largest in the world in terms of GDP (PPP), with US and China ahead of it. According to South Asia Economic Focus report brought out by World Bank, regional growth is projected to increase from 7 percent in 2015 to 7.6 percent by 2017 with the increase in investments and steady rise in consumption patterns.
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