Book Review: Kalpana Sharma and Nar Singh, WTO and India’s Exports: Performance, Policy Measures and Challenges of Productivity and Competitiveness
| Author | Debashis Chakraborty |
| Published date | 01 February 2018 |
| Date | 01 February 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0015732517721786 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Book Review
Kalpana Sharma and Nar Singh, WTO and India’s Exports: Performance,
Policy Measures and Challenges of Productivity and Competitiveness.
New Delhi: Regal Publications, 2016, `2,180, 513 pp., ISBN 978-81-
8484-534-1.
WTO today stands at a crucial crossroad, with the Doha round negotiations in
stalemate for a prolonged period. Given the slow progress of the multilateral
negotiations, WTO member countries are often looking for solution within newly
negotiated regional trade agreements (RTAs). India is no exception to this trend,
with its perspective towards RTAs evolving significantly over the last two decades.
There is also a general rise in protectionist policies, and the recent move towards
Brexit and US decision to re-look into H1B visa provisions are cases in point.
In this context, the recent volume by Sharma and Singh, focusing on performance
and challenges faced by India, deals with an important area of research.
The introductory chapter deals with the possible benefits and challenges faced
by India in light of the country’s WTO membership. The principle of non-
discrimination through Most Favoured Nation and National Treatment provisions,
non-reciprocity requirement in certain contexts and the likes significantly help
India. However, the liberalization commitments and the associated challenges for
the local players often may put severe stress on developing countries.
The second chapter focuses on India’s trade, foreign investment and growth
experiences over the decades, and on the basis of the past data concludes that
economic liberalization has significantly benefitted the country. In light of
the experience of the last two decades, the authors recommend further opening up
of the economy to keep the growth engine running.
The consensus mechanism of WTO requires year-long negotiations on trade
issues to arrive at the common ground. The third chapter traces the evolutions in
India’s foreign trade policy framework in the pre- and post-WTO era, including
the removals of quantitative restrictions and various other non-tariff measures
(NTMs), peak duties, introduction of SEZ policy, adoption of the contingency
measures and so on. With gradual reforms and evolving competitiveness, the
negotiating standpoint of the country has also evolved over the period since
the Doha Ministerial (2001). In the subsequent period, India has emerged as
the leader of the developing countries and the food security issue discussed at the
Bali Ministerial (2013) of WTO is a case in point. While on agricultural front
Foreign Trade Review
53(1) 59–61
©2018 Indian Institute of
Foreign Trade
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0015732517721786
http://ftr.sagepub.com
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