India scoffs at West faulting trade policy

Judge us by what has been done over the years on economic front

“Nearly all of you, including our partners in regional trade agreements have commended India’s openness and continued liberalisation ... I am, therefore, somewhat puzzled at the criticism levelled at us by some members about the inadequate market access offered by India,” India’s Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar told WTO members.

“Judge us by what we have done over the years and not by the latitude we have,” he said, in a response to the US criticism that “the agriculture sector in India remains closed to many foreign products”.

Range of restrictions
The US trade envoy Ambassador Michael Punke expressed sharp concern “about the lack of transparency in many aspects of India’s trade policy” and a range of restrictions faced by members in the government procurement, agriculture trade, weak enforcement of intellectual property rights and sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

Some other WTO members also expressed concern about rising anti-dumping measures and continued gap between the applied and bound tariffs by India.

Khullar argued that despite large merchandise trade deficit, which is projected to increase to 11.5 per cent of the GDP in 2013-14, India has kept its markets open for imports.

Khullar said the concern about “the large gap” between bound and applied tariffs for agricultural products is “nothing but a reflection of our steady and continued autonomous tariff liberalisation”.