Amid deficit underuse of Asean trade agreement to be assessed by commerce department

New Delhi: The commerce department has drawn up a list of around 20 questions to be shared with exporters to gauge the underutilisation of India's trade pact with Asean countries amid the deal being reviewed due to New Delhi's high and sustained trade deficit.These questions pertain to difficulty to trace the origin of raw materials, challenges in interpretation and procedures, cost of compliance and if exporters are not using the preferential route due to low duty differentials compared to regular rates.The Asean-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), which came into effect in 2010, is currently under review. India has been demanding a review of the pact to eliminate barriers and its misuse. The review is aimed to be completed this year."We are trying to assess the reasons that affect the export performance and limit the exporters ability to leverage the AITIGA preferential benefits," said an official.Asean, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. "The structural or policy-related bottlenecks impacting exports under the agreement and domestic supply-side limitations or capacity constraints are also being looked into," the official added.The questionnaire will also touch upon tariff and non-tariff barriers in the 10-member bloc, procedural issues in availing preferential certificates, pricing compared to key competitors, rules of origin, buyer-side challenges and customs clearance process compared to regular most favoured nation (MFN) route.The exercise is crucial as India seeks to eliminate barriers and misuse of the trade pact and reduce its trade deficit with the grouping. India had opened 71% of tariff lines while Indonesia opened only 41%, Vietnam 66.5% and Thailand 67%, for AITIGA.India's goods exports to the Asean shrank 5.4% from a year earlier to $38.96 billion in FY25, while its imports from the bloc rose 5.6% to $84.16 billion.Concerns have also been raised about routing of goods to India from third countries, especially China, through Asean members by taking the duty advantages of the agreement.