Book review: Arpita Mukherjee‚ Divya Satija‚ Angana Parashar Sarma‚ Soham Sinha‚ Brahma Chauhan and Raj Kumar Shahi, Streamlining Food Imports for Trade Facilitation and Ease of Doing Business in India
| Date | 01 August 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0015732520919836 |
| Published date | 01 August 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Book Review
Arpita Mukherjee‚ Divya Satija‚ Angana Parashar Sarma‚ Soham
Sinha‚ Brahma Chauhan and Raj Kumar Shahi, Streamlining Food
Imports for Trade Facilitation and Ease of Doing Business in India,
Academic Foundation is association with Indian Council for Research
on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), 2019, US$99, 130 pp.,
ISBN: 9789332705159.
Since 2014, the launch of the ‘Make in India’ initiative, India has enthusiastically
attempted to facilitate integration of the country’s production with global value
chains. To fulfil this objective, a number of labour (e.g., food processing, leather,
textile and garments) as well as capital-intensive (e.g., automobile, biotechnology,
electricals, electronics) sectors have been identified. A well-coordinated set of
policies covering fiscal (tax-related measures) and procedural aspects (land
related, simplification of entry routes) have already been undertaken. To entice
the leading global players further, the operational framework for intellectual
property rights have been strengthened and greater stress is being laid on
improving the ease of doing business rank of the country. It has been observed
that the rank of India on this global scale has improved from 132nd in 2011 to
63rd position in 2019, which is expected to deepen the country’s integration with
the world in the coming days. India also joined the World Trade Organization’s
(WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in 2013, which has entered into
force from 2017 onwards. As part of the TFA commitments, India is currently
implementing several steps to improve transparency, efficiency and predict-
ability in the import process, which in turn would facilitate the import-dependent
export-oriented sectors as well.
Among the ‘Make in India’ sectors, the opportunities in the food processing
sector deserves particular mention. Given the availability of vast land resource
and no dearth of labour, India has emerged as one of the major producers of a wide
range of agricultural commodities. In addition, given the relatively protected
nature of the sector, it is characterised by a positive sectoral trade balance. On the
one hand, given the massive output and the high proportion of losses by value
along the supply chain, with right set of policies the sector can become a major
export revenue earner. On the other hand, in the recent period, due to cumulative
effects of a number of underlying determinants, for example, growth in population
associated with rising economic prosperity, tariff reforms under the regional trade
Foreign Trade Review
55(3) 436–438, 2020
© 2020 Indian Institute of
Foreign Trade
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DOI: 10.1177/0015732520919836
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