Hyderabad: In the so-called post globalisation era, India, dubbed the Tariff King by US President Donald Trump, hopes to better utilise Foreign Trade
Agreements (FTA) and tools in the World Trade Organisation to increase its share in total global exports, despite the huge increase in non-tariff barriers,
according to a senior official in the ministry of external affairs.
Speaking at Deccan Dialogue, an event jointly organised by ISB and the ministry of external affairs, P. Harish, additional secretary, MEA, said, “Despite having
FTAs, countries have been dexterous in using tools present in the WTO to prevent market access to Indian companies. While Globalisation has led to de-
tariffisation, there has been a huge increase in non-tariff barriers which has been a significant factor for countries like the United States to withdraw from
multilateral agreements such as Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).”
On India’s effort to increase its export share that currently stands at 1.65 per cent of total global exports, and the lack of new FTAs since 2011, Mr Harish said,
“We didn’t play the game as we didn’t understand the game of FTAs properly. Taking cues from the past, we need to engage with our industry even more to
increase our trade.”
Harinder Sindhu, Australian High Commissioner to India, said that before signing any FTA, Australia looks at the inputs from industry.
Both speakers agreed that reform in multilateral organisations is the need of the hour despite the rise in multilateral agreements like RCEP block of nations.
Later in the day, Jaydev Galla, managing director of Amar Raja, said that the rise of protectionism across the world is a backlash to globalisation as countries
have failed to protect their people from unemployment.
Speaking earlier in the day, Telangana state agriculture minister S. Niranjan Reddy announced that the TS government is looking to attract an investment of
around Rs 64,000 crore for a new Pharma City in Hyderabad that would be spread across 19,000 acres.
