India has to send out unequivocal signals that it’s a reliable trade partner that wants to become part of global supply chain | The Indian Express

India has to send out unequivocal signals that it’s a reliable trade partner that wants to become part of global supply chain | The Indian Express

Written by Amartya Lahiri |Updated: March 16, 2019 8:52:45 am

The writer is professor of economics, Royal Bank research professor and Johal Chair, University of British Columbia, Canada

India has to send out unequivocal signals that it’s a reliable trade partner that wants to become part of global supply chain

US move to withdraw privileges provides an opportunity for India to introspect on the general state of its exports.

The big disparity between China and India is goods exports. India’s share of world goods exports rose from 0.5 per cent in 1990 to 1.7 per cent in 2017 while China’s rose from 1.8 per cent to 12.8 per cent during the same period. (File)

The recent decision of the US to give notice of its intention to rescind India’s export privileges under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) has refocused attention on the state of Indian exports. Under the GSP programme, the US provides duty-free access to 4,800 different goods from 129 designated countries. The immediate loss for India is preferential access at zero or minimal tariffs to the US market for around 1,900 products, which is over half of all Indian products.