Protectionism Will Hurt Economic Recovery: Anand Sharma.

 NEW DELHI: India on Thursday asked the developed nations, especially the US and European countries, not to turn protectionist in view of the current economic crisis, saying it would only prove counter-productive and hurt recovery.

"Crisis leads to inward thinking but protectionism is counter-productive as it deepens recession. Wherever protectionism has been resorted to, it has never helped," said Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma.

Referring to the US government's protectionist approach towards the Indian outsourcing industry, Sharma said US policy makers need to be sensitised about the fact that Indian firms were major source of employment in the US and they were not taking away jobs.

"We need to engage more not less," Sharma said here while speaking to a joint delegation of US and German law makers.

A US Congress-German Bundestag delegation comprising eight US Congressmen and four members of the German parliament Bundestag is on a five-day visit to India. The visit is aimed at improving the understanding of US and German parliamentarians about India, India's external relations and India's domestic policies.

US and Germany are India's major trading partners. US accounted for 10.17 percent of India's exports and around 5.26 percent of India's imports in 2010-11.

Bilateral trade between India and Germany in 2009-10 was about US$15.73 billion with exports from India to Germany in 2009-10 valued at US$5.41 billion and imports from Germany to India at US$10.31 billion during that period.

India's export to Germany rose 25.33 percent to $6.78 billion in 2010-11 while imports grew 10.95 percent to $11.44 billion year-on-year.

"While India places great emphasis on its external sector, Indian economic growth is fundamentally domestic-demand driven rather than export-led. India has tended to import more than it exports. As such, its growth will contribute to the global recovery process," Sharma said.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com