ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 presents a critical review of policy developments in India, in the 2000s, with respect to traditional trade instruments such as tariffs, quantitative restrictions, export incentive schemes and exchange rate policy. Other aspects like trade facilitation measures undertaken particularly after India signed the WTO trade facilitation agreement and India’s participation in the WTO with reference to its stance on major trade issues in the Doha Development Agenda have also been included in the analysis. The chapter includes a brief discussion on India’s policy of small-scale industry reservation and its impact on India’s trade competitiveness, specifically in some of the globally trade dynamic sectors. A brief comment on the SEZ policy in India in the 2000s, as against the successful SEZ policy and experience of Southeast/East Asian economies, including that of China, is also included in the chapter. Finally, the chapter includes a section on India’s trade policy developments in the three focus sectors of analysis in this book - electronics, motor vehicles/automotives and textiles and apparel - highlighting therein the shortcomings that may have impacted India’s GVC integration and export market share in these sectors. In each case, a successful developing country experience is presented for the purpose of comparison and policy insights.
