Foreign Trade Export Import Policy And Regional Trade Agreements Of India

For about 40 years (1950-90), foreign trade of India suffered from strict bureaucratic and discretionary controls. Similarly, foreign exchange transactions were tightly controlled by the Government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). From Independence in 1947 till mid-1990s, India, with some exceptions, always faced deficit in its balance of payments, i.e. value of imports always exceeded the value of exports. Exports remained relatively sluggish owing to lack of exportable surplus, competition in the international market, inflation at home, and increasing protectionist policies of the developed countries. Beginning 1991, the Government of India introduced a series of reforms to liberalise and globalise the Indian economy. Indias approach to openness has been cautious, contingent on achieving certain preconditions to ensure an orderly process of liberalisation and ensuring macroeconomic stability. The broad approach to reforms in the foreign trade sector was laid out in the Report of the High Level Committee on Balance of Payments (Chairman: C. Rangarajan), 1993. The major trade policy changes in the post-1991 period have included (a) simplification of procedures, (b) removal of quantitative restrictions, (c) substantial reduction in the tariff rates, (d) moving towards current account convertibility, (e) liberal inflows of private capital, (f) shift towards market-determined exchange rate, (g) gradual liberalisation of restrictions on outflows, (h) focus on export growth and (i) attracting non-debt creating capital flows. In recognition of the growing importance of foreign trade in the Indian economy, this book provides a comprehensive description and analysis of post-Independence developments in Indias foreign trade and allied sectors with focus on post-1991 period. The book contains 19 chapters which are categorized into the following six theme parts: Part I: International Trade: Theoretical Settings and Emerging Pattern. Part II: Indias Foreign Trade Policy and Developments. Part III: Indias Exports, Imports, Customs Tariff, and Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Part IV: Exchange Rate and Convertibility. Part V: Foreign Debt, Aid and Investment. Part VI: WTO and Indias Regional Trade Agreements. Besides, there are the following 3 appendices: Appendix 1: Text of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP), August 27, 2009 to March 31, 2014. Appendix 2: Group of Twenty (G-20). Appendix 3: E-commerce. Other features of the book include □ Year-wise Review of Developments in Indias Foreign Trade: 1947-48 to 2011-12 □ Glossary of Trade-related Terms □ Time-series Statistics of Indias Foreign Trade □ Bibliography □ Index.

For about 40 years, foreign trade of India suffered from strict bureaucratic and discretionary controls. Beginning in 1991, the government introduced a series of reforms to liberalize and globalize the Indian economy. Reforms in the external sector were intended to integrate the country's economy with the world economy. The major trade policy changes in the post-1991 period have included simplification of procedures, removal of quantitative restrictions, and substantial reduction in the tariff rates. The products wherein India has the maximum presence in the international market in terms of export share are spices, marine products, precious/semi-precious stones, and textiles. Recent trends, however, indicate that the commodity structure of India's exports has slowly begun to shift towards higher technology intensive manufacturing. This book focuses on the country's export policy, since the greatest challenge facing its economy is to enhance its productivity and competitiveness, so as to achieve a sustained growth in the exports of goods and services. [Subject: India Studies, Economics, Trade]

This publication displays the menu for choice of available methods to evaluate the impact of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). It caters mainly to policy makers from developing countries and aims to equip them with some economic knowledge and techniques that will enable them to conduct their own economic evaluation studies on existing or future FTAs, or to critically re-examine the results of impact assessment studies conducted by others, at the very least.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, as well as the legal ground rules for international commerce and for trade policy. These agreements have three main objectives: (a) to help trade flow as freely as possible, (b) to achieve further liberalization gradually through negotiations, and (c) to set up an impartial means of settling disputes. A number of simple, fundamental principles run throughout all the WTO agreements and are the foundation of the multilateral trading system. They include: non-discrimination, freer trade, predictable policies, encouragement to competition, and extra provisions for less developed countries. Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) are an integral part of India's foreign trade policy, complementing the multilateral trading system. Prior to the economic reforms process that was initiated in 1991, India had adopted a very cautious and guarded approach to regionalism. Recognizing that RTAs would continue to feature prominently in world trade, India has lately engaged with its trading partners/blocks with the intention of expanding its export market. This volume contains papers on India's position in the context of WTO and regional trade agreements. Authored by distinguished scholars in the field, these papers provide deep insights into the complexities of India's commercial relations with the outside world.

Globalisation has changed the trade pattern globally. More globalised nations have benefited from trade liberalisation reducing inequality, unemployment and poverty but less globalised players have become marginalised in the world economy. This, is fact, has reduced incomes and enhanced poverty. This book makes a humble effort in analysing India's pattern of foreign trade in the World Trade Organisation regime. There is an exposition of India's trade during last fifteen years and side by side there has been a presentation of the functioning of the WTO in the developing nations context.

Rules of origin have emerged as one of the most controversial issues in any trade negotiations. This book analyzes the economics of rules of origin in regional trade agreements. It critically evaluates the empirical aspects, providing fresh perspectives on complex policy-negotiations and rules of origin implementation.