Lack of proper understanding about Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) has resulted in under utilisation of preferential duty tariff that exporters can claim under them, Ravi Capoor, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said here today.

The data revealed that only 10 to 12 per cent of the entire trade was happening under FTAs, he said at an awareness programme organised by the Director General of Foreign Trade, in association with the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), and EEPC India, here.

“FTAs are least understood. India has signed 16 trade agreements so far out of the 200 trade agreements inked by various countries across the world between 2000 and 2015. Most of the agreements signed by India are with countries in the South East Asian Region,” Capoor said.

Stating that India had several product lines which offered zero duty access to the Japanese market, only 21 per cent of it was being utilised by exporters, he said. It was largely because they were not aware of the benefits.

“Most exporters leave the task of availing (duty free) benefits to customs or clearing house agents,” he said.

“While the partnering country to the agreement can avail the preferential tariff agreed by the group (of countries) amongst its members, it is not being utilised either due to lack of awareness or because of the exporter’s dependence on the clearing agent,” he said.

Asking participants to look up www.indiantradeportal.in and avail the concessional tariff, the official said that everyone could access the site for free, know the countries which were partners to the various trade agreements inked with India and the tariff advantage for the product.

He admitted that there was a huge gap in data collection on exports under FTA. On the delay in signing the FTA with the European Union, Capoor said that it had strengths in areas like wine, dairy products and automobile, and was interested in selling these products to India.

“India is becoming a hub for small cars, and textile is another emerging area and tariff will not be an issue 15 years down the line,” Capoor said.

India would have to move into high technology and high value-added products to compete in the global market, as the world was moving towards non-tariff barriers, he said.