Friday, December 24, 2021

IGNOU : M.COM : IBO 3 : UNIT 1 : Q - 1. Discuss the main features of India's foreign trade.

 

Ans. To achieve a respectable share of 5 per cent in World exports, India’s export growth rate (CAGR) has to be around 26.5 per cent for at least 5 years (2017-2021) assuming that global growth continues at the CAGR of 1.5 per cent (2010-15). For this some major strategies and trade policy reforms are needed along with specific measures.

1. Demand based export basket diversification rather than a mere supply based strategy as the ranks of items at 4 digit level in world top imports and ranks of India’s exports of these items to the world show a great deal of mismatch with India exporting 96.5 per cent of items in the World’s top 100 import items at 4 digit level and 83.2 per cent at 6 digit level in terms of numbers in 2015, which however constitute only 1.6 per cent of top 100 world imports in value terms.

2. Rationalizing tariffs as the realized tariffs (BCD) is very low at 2.8 per cent in 2015-16 and less than one fourth the average applied tariffs due to various exemptions. If refunds and customs duty drawbacks are deducted from gross customs revenue then the net realized tariffs (BCD) would be still less. Though different rates of tariffs are levied for various reasons, there is scope for reducing average applied tariffs by selectively reducing tariffs across many lines, while retaining higher tariffs for sensitive and important items. Consequently WTO bound tariffs could also be reduced which can help India to take a more pro-active role in WTO and bilateral negotiations.

3. Streamlining Export Promotion Schemes as many duties have been subsumed under GST and if tariffs are reduced to realized or near realized levels, some export promotion schemes can be phased out. The duty drawback rates can also be revised downwards. The revenue saved could be used for export marketing efforts.

4. Developing on a war footing world class export infrastructure and logistics especially port-related

5. FDI linked and Value Added Exports particularly high-tech exports as in China and some ASEAN countries.

6. Having useful FTAs/CECA’s with some major countries while actively expanding engagement with BRICS and ASEAN where India enjoys competitive advantage.

7. National Priority Sector for Exports and greater States’ participation in exports by linking devolution of funds to states with export effort of states.

8. Formulating a clear-cut Agri Trade Policy

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