International Cooperation and Indian Strategic Trade Management (original) (raw)

India's Trade Relations with South Asian neighbours Emerging Trends, Issues and Strategies.pdf

Regional associations are considered as one of the most significant means to strengthen economic, political and social relations among the regional member states. But even after the long existence of three decades of SAARC, it still has been considered as one of the least integrated and ineffective region in the global scenario, in comparison to other such organizations like EU, ASEAN, NAFTA, etc. SAARC is far behind in intra- regional trade and in conflict resolution other than this, the region is also full of inconsistencies, disparities and paradoxes but on the other hand the World Bank Report shows that growth in South Asia has increased from 6.2% to 7% between 2013 and 2015 and it is estimated the growth momentum to continue and increase to 7.5% by 2018. This paper attempts to analyze the trends in India’s trade with its South Asian neighbors and identifies the issues pertaining to the bilateral trade between India and other member states of SAARC. The paper is descriptive in nature and the scope of the study is limited to India’s bilateral trade with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka during the period 2010-2015. The analysis reveals India’s exports to all the SAARC members have increased with a respectable margin over the period except with Pakistan where it has decreased. Issues like inconsistencies, disparities, paradoxes, Indo- Pak rivalry, and fear- psychosis among other members have been identified and it is suggested that India should adopt some result oriented strategies to increase its trade with these countries.

The Indian trade regime

Despite attempts to liberalize India's import trade regime, the structure of import licensing is still restrictive and complex and for most products, trade restrictions are probably redundant as protection. Reforming export policies alone - without reforming India's import and tax systems - will produce only marginal improvements. Problems in the export administration can be resolved only by making changes in four areas. (1) The import licensing system must be rationalizedto eliminate import restrictions on inputs and components. The import regime inflicts heavy administrative costs on the Indian economy. Imports of raw materials and other inputs essential for production are delayed, leaving downstream producers idle when domestic supplies are interrupted (which happens often). The export regime is still not rationalized for smaller producers, indirect exporters, and firms that rely on domestic suppliers. (2) Tariffs and excise taxes must be consolidated around two to three ...

India in the World Trading System

2002

Abstract: This paper examines the position of India in the world trading system. It considers three separate questions: Firstly, how integrated is India in the world trade? Secondly, what gains could India reap from further trade liberalization? Thirdly, what are the best means to achieve greater trade openness? The paper argues that while India's trade barriers have fallen since external sector reforms started in the early 1990s, they remain high relative to most developing countries, in particular China.

PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF FOREIGN TRADE IN INDIA

India, along with a few other developing countries, has and continues to have objections raised and ventilated through WTO forums on issues like agriculture, especially, subsidies in the context of food security and ‘trade facilitation’India’s contention has been that institutional reforms of the WTO are best left to the members rather than the WTO Secretariat. India has further highlighted the increasing trade frictions and the dwindled size of the Appellate Tribunal, which among other things, is affecting dispute resolution. Keywords : Agriculture, Tribunal, WTO, Subsidies and Dispute.