Majority of trade pacts implemented by India have no effect on exports: Survey

Majority of trade agreements being implemented by India have had "no effect" on the country's overall merchandise exports, according to the Economic Survey. It also said that products manufactured in India have clearly benefitted from eight out of the fourteen trade agreements considered in the survey.

"A majority of the trade agreements exerted no effect on overall merchandise exports," it said. The survey considered 14 agreements signed by India -- Chile, Korea, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, BIMSTEC, Asean, Mercosur, and SAFTA.

Exports of manufactured goods from India has benefitted from trade agreements with Mercosur (a six-country trade bloc including Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), ASEAN, Nepal, Singapore, Chile, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Japan. It said that four of the agreements (SAFTA, BIMSTEC, Thailand and Sri Lanka) had no effect on exports of manufactured products, while the bilateral agreements with Korea and Japan exerted a negative effect.

"Turning to overall merchandise exports, only four trade agreements (Mercosur, Nepal, Singapore, and Chile) show a positive impact," it added. In trade pacts, two or more trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate custom duties on maximum number of goods traded between them.