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Expected gains guide the decision to join trade agreements (TAs). While it is difficult to predict whether the ongoing trade war will result in a significant shift in the global trade paradigm, India's renewed interest in TAs with numerous developed economies, as well as worsening trade balances with existing TA partners, necessitates a review of India's current TAs before negotiating new ones. Using a stochastic frontier gravity model, the study evaluates the impact of RTAs (free and preferential; deep and shallow) on India's export efficiency from 2002 to 2020. The paper also investigates how TA affected Indian exports during the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020. The findings demonstrate that India's preferential and shallow TAs had a maximum export efficiency of 55 % between 2002 and 2020. Moreover, shallow TAs demonstrated their resilience in encouraging Indian exports in 2020. Findings reveal that India has failed to fully leverage its deep TAs, which are critical for stimulating commerce, investment, and economic growth. As a result, India must safeguard its interests during the ongoing deep trade talks by focusing on non-tariff barriers and rules of origin to promote exports and harmonize regulatory standards to facilitate FDI-led integration into global GVCs to boost export potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]