Some years ago I asked an economist from the Asian Development Bank why South Asia's nations didn't do more business with each other. He replied, 'Because India is not good at downsizing with its smaller neighbours'. In spite of SAARC and its offshoot SAFTA, the South Asian Free Trade Area, trade within the region is a pathetic 5 per cent of the total trade. In neighbouring ASEAN it's 25 per cent. No wonder India has adopted a Look East policy. There doesn't seem to be much point in looking nearer home.