India’s tariffs lower than over half of the world, down over 80% since 2001

India's tariffs lower than most other nations

India’s weighted mean tariff stood at 4.6 percent in 2022, placing it below the global median, a Moneycontrol analysis of World Bank data shows. Out of 144 economies, India ranked 64th, with lower tariffs than several South Asian neighbours and BRICS partners—including Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Brazil.

The data challenges the United States’ characterisation of India as a “tariff king”. While Washington has imposed a 25 percent duty plus penalty on Indian exports, it levied only 20 percent on Bangladesh.

India is also among a select group of countries to have cut tariffs by over 80 percent between 2001 and 2022. In comparison, EU tariffs declined by 61 percent, and Thailand’s fell by 56 percent over the same period.

The scale and speed of India’s tariff liberalisation become more evident when placed in historical perspective. In 1990, India’s average tariff rate stood at a steep 80.9 percent. Following the 1991 economic reforms, this was lowered to 56 percent, brought down further to 33 percent by 1999, and currently stands at 15.98 percent.

The weighted average tariff—which reflects the actual structure of India’s trade basket—has seen an even steeper drop, from 56 percent in 1990 to 4.6 percent today. In the last decade alone, it has fallen from 7.3 percent to 4.6 percent, signaling a consistent push toward a more open and competitive trade regime.

US has been a major beneficiary of these reductions, with retaliatory tariffs on key American agricultural exports like apples, walnuts, and almonds also withdrawn in 2023 after the resolution of WTO disputes.