India has highest tariff rate among new Indo-Pacific bloc, shows data

The IPEF members account for around a third of India's exports

India charges higher tariffs on trade than any of the other 12 members of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF).

The tariff for India is 9.4 per cent compared to a median of 3.1 per cent for the other countries, which came together in an economic partnership announced on Monday. While the contours of the partnership remain broad, it is seen to be a group to potentially counter China’s influence in the region through Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and other agreements. It is also seen as an effort to rebuild US influence in the region after it pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2017.

The other members in the new framework account for 33.3 per cent of India’s exports, shows an analysis of data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. They account for around 26 per cent of its imports. Some contribute more than others (see charts 1,2).
 

The goals of the framework remain loosely defined. Business Standard looked at a cross-section of data across some key themes mentioned in the announcement of the deal using various data sources (see table).
 

One of the key areas of focus is said to include working together on digital infrastructure. Interestingly, India has amongst the lowest internet penetration figures. It was at around 49 per cent as per the latest available numbers. This is the lowest of the 13 countries. The others have median penetration of 90 per cent.  The highest is South Korea (97 per cent).

Another commitment under the partnership is to clean energy. India has been resistant to phasing out coal-based power plants which account for the majority of the country’s electricity generation. Moves towards clean energy under the partnership will be closely watched as India’s energy use is already the second lowest. India had per capita energy use of 25 gigajoules before the pandemic, compared to a median figure of 145 gigajoules for the rest. Only the Philippines is worse with 19 gigajoules. Figures for 2019 are used since energy usage may have been affected by the pandemic.

India also has the lowest of per capita gross domestic product (GDP), a broad indicator of the average earnings of people of the country. 

It is $6,998 in 2019 compared to a median of over $40,000 for the rest of the group.