World Trade Organisation And Indian Economic Reforms

The World Trade Agreement Is Proved To Be A Major Breakthrough In The History Of The World Trade. It Was Sought Member Of Challenges And Opportunities To The Trading Countries In General And Trading Communities In Particular. The Wto Provides A New Legal Basis For The World Trade In Goods And Services, The Protection Of Intellectual Property Rights And To A Lesser Extent Trade Related Investments. The Services Industry As It Is Acknowledged To Knowledge Based Industry Is A Emerging And Challenging Area, Where Most Of The Ldcs Have An Opportunity To Trade Their Services And Talent. Most Of The Ldcs Belongs To Knowledge Domain Countries. The Wto Is A Common Organizational And Institutional Organ To Develop Trade Relations Among Its Members And To Serve As A Forum For Negotiations On Further Trade Liberalization With Global Discipline. The Basic-Principle Of Wto Remained The Same As Those Of Gatt 1947. However The Significant Difference Lies In Single Undertaking Of Legal Framework. Which Has Helped To Solve The Problems Involved In Gatt Operations. Multilateral Agreement With A Provision Of Inbuilt Dispute Settlement And Surveillance Under The Trade Policy Review Mechanism. The Problem Of Free Riders Has Been Effectively And Indefinitely Delayed Adherencing To The Earlier Standards Of The Global Trade Regime. The Protection Of Certain Non-Comforting Measures Have Been Significantly Diminished. The World After Cancun And Doha Declarations Is Motivated To Divide In Two Groups Viz. Developing. The Unity Among Ldcs In Some Cases Is Differing And Motivated Towards Regionalisms And Political Commitments. Consequently, The Negotiations Are Not Result Oriented. On The Contrary Lobbying Is Becoming One Of Magical Move To Influence The Dominating Group In The World Trade. To Study And Highlight The Effects Of Wto On Various Aspects Of The Economy Has Proved To Be An Interesting Issue Of The Researchers. Ten Years Of Its (Wto) Existence Is A Sufficient Time To Asses The End Results Of The Provisions. The Macro-Economic Scenario Is Not Enough To Diagnose The Ill Effects Of Wto.

This book is designed to clarify India's interests in the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Agenda and to provide a blueprint for its strategy in multilateral negotiations. The focus is on facilitating domestic and external policy reforms that can serve to bolster India's participation in the multilateral trading system and to enhance the effectiveness of India's trade and related policies in achieving developmental goals. Individual chapters address the economic effects on India of the Uruguay Round Negotiations and the prospective Doha Agenda negotiations; the implications of the abolition of the Multi-Fiber Agreement; services issues and liberalization; telecommunications policy reforms; foreign direct investment; intellectual property rights; competition policy; government procurement; standards and technical barriers; trade and environment; and, finally, a comprehensive analysis of the major issues coupled with concrete proposals to guide India's participation in the Doha Development Agenda.

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.

The publication contains an explanation of Most Favored Nation (MFN) treatment and some of the key issues that arise in its negotiation, particularly the scope and application of MFN treatment to the liberalization and protection of foreign investors in recent treaty practice. The paper provides policy options as regards the traditional application of MFN treatment and identifies reactions by States to the unexpected broad use of MFN treatment, and provides several drafting options, such as specifying or narrowing down the scope of application of MFN treatment to certain types of activities, clarifying the nature of "treatment" under the IIA, clarifying the comparison that an arbitral tribunal needs to undertake as well as a qualification of the comparison "in like circumstances" or excluding its use in investor-State cases.

This book is recommended for those readers and students who are keen on getting a deeper understanding on the strategic issues facing the different sectors of the Indian economy and business in the aftermath of the emergence of the WTO system and the new global economic and business order that the WTO agreements have brought about. The book will raise your strategic anxieties on India to such a great height that after reading it, you will certainly be inspired to think seriously about possible ways of enabling the Indian economy and business to achieve a more rapid global ascendance. All discussions in the book are in the context of the WTO agreements. While discussing India s past trade performance and future potentials, the book makes extensive references to the US, European Union and China, the three most powerful economies of the contemporary world. There are several instances in the book where Indian achievements are benchmarked against China s. Besides, the book explores the direction of India s trade future with respect to the ASEAN. The book also focuses on such burning topics as Indian companies in the global markets, India s trade gains in textiles and clothing, intellectual property protection to traditional knowledge, food security issues under a free trade regime, India s international trade in agricultural products, India s business in business process outsourcing, and the trade potentials in higher education. Further, there are interesting discussions in the book on the trade or investment issues of automobile, pharmaceutical, FMCG, retailing, livestock, plantation and tourism sectors. In each case, the book has made due focus of its attention on the required strategic recourse for India. In a nutshell, the book is an essential reading for anyone who longs to see India reemerging as the dominant force in the global economy.