IMPACT OF THE World Trade Organisation ON THE INDIAN ECONOMY • INTRODUCTION : The World Trade organization was established to deal with all the major aspects of international trade and it had far reaching effects not only on India’s foreign trade but also on its internal economy. The impact of the WTO on the Indian economy can be analysed on the basis and general concepts. • IMPACT : The WTO has both favourable and non-favourable impact on the Indian economy. • FAVOURABLE IMPACT : 1) Increase in export earnings : Increase in export earnings can be viewed v iewed from growth in merchandise exports expo rts and growth in service exports : • Growth in merchandise exports : The establishment of the WTO has increased the exports of developing countries because of reduction in tariff and non-tariff trade barriers. India’s merchandise exports have increased from 32 billion b illion us $ (1995) to 185 billion u $ (2008(200809). • Growth in service exports : The WTO introduced the GATS (general (gene ral Agreement on Trade in Services ) that proved beneficial for countries like India. India’s service exports increased from 5 billion us $ (1995) to 102 billion us $ (2008-09) (2008-09) (software services accounted) for 45% of India’s service exports) 2) Agricultural exports : Reduction of trade barriers and domestic subsidies raise the price of agricultural products in international market, India hopes to benefit from this in the form of higher export earnings from agriculture 3) Textiles and Clothing : The phasing out of the MFA M FA will largely benefit the textiles sector. It will help the developing countries like India to increase the export of textiles and clothing. 4) Foreign Direct Investment : As per the TRIMs agreement, restrictions on foreign investment have been withdrawn by the member nations of the WTO. This has benefited developing countries by b y way of foreign direct investment, euro equities and portfolio investment. In 2008-09, the net foreign direct investment inv estment in India was 35 billion us $. 5) Multi-lateral rules and discipline : It is expected that fair trade conditions will be created, due to rules and discipline related to practices like anti-dumping, subsidies and countervailing measure, safeguards and dispute settlements. Such conditions will benefit India in its attempt to globalise its economy. • UNFAVOURABLE UNFAVOURABLE IMPACT : 1) TRIPs Protection of intellectual property rights has been one of the major concerns of the WTO. As a member of the WTO, India has to comply with the TRIPs standards. However, the agreement on TRIPs goes against the Indian patent act, 1970, in the following ways:
• Pharmaceutical sector : Under the Indian Patent act, 1970, only process patents are granted to chemicals, drugs and medicines. Thus, a company can legally manufacture once it had the product patent. So Indian pharmaceutical companies could sell good quality products (medicines) at low prices. However under TRIPs agreement, product patents will also be granted that will raise the prices of medicines, thus keeping them out of reach of the poor people, fortunately, most of drugs manufactured in India are off – patents and so will be less affected. • Agriculture Since the agreement on TRIPs extends to agriculture as well, it will have considerable implication’s on Indian agriculture. The MNG, with their huge financial resources, may also take over seed production and will eventually control food production. Since a large majority of Indian population depends on agriculture for their divelihood, these developments will have serious consequences. Micro-organisms : Under TRIPs Agreement, patenting has been extended to micro-organisms as well. This mill largely benefit MNCs and not developing countries like India. 2) TRIMS : The Agreement on TRIMs also favours developed nations as there are no rules in the agreement to formulate international rules for controlling business practices of foreign investors. Also, complying with the TRIMs agreement will contradict our objective of self – reliant growth based on locally available technology and resources. 3) GATS: The Agreement on GATS will also favour the developed nations more. Thus, the rapidly growing service sector in India will now have to compete with giant foreign firms. Moreover, since foreign firms are allowed to remit their profits, dividends and royalties to their parent company, it will cause foreign exchange burden for India. 4) TRADE AND NON – TARIFF Barriers : Reduction of trade and non-tariff barriers has adversely affected the exports of various developing nations. Various Indian products have been hit by. Non- tariff barriers. These include textiles, marine products, floriculture, pharmaceuticals, basmati rice, carpets, leather goods etc. 5) LDC exports : Many member nations have agreed to provide duty – frce and quota – frce market access to all products originating from least developed countries. India will have to now bear the adverse effect of competing with cheap LDC exports internationally. Moreover, LDC exports will also come to the Indian market and thus compete with domestically produced goods.
