India Rejects West's Criticism Of Trade Policy.

GENEVA: India today rejected the criticism of its trade policy, especially by the US, at the WTO and asked the members to judge the country by what it has done over the years.

"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".

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.

The Secretary 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".

He said there is no merit in labelling "India's import licensing regime as complex". Khullar said that it affects only a few restricted items primarily on grounds of protection of human, animal and plant life and the environment.

He also dismissed the concerns raised by the US that Indian apparel and garment exporters receive special tax credits saying "our export promotion schemes are based on the concept of duty neutralisation and providing a level playing field".

As regards trade remedy measures, particularly anti-dumping, India said if "it had a protectionist intent, then the easy route of increasing the tariffs up to the bound rates was available to us, we have not gone down that road."

The chair for the trade policy review mechanism Ambassador Mario Matus said members "praised India for having used trade policy to promote sustainable growth".

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com