Where would Apple, IBM be if not for talent from across globe, says RBI Guv

Urjit Patel raises flag against protectionism

Cautioning against protectionism, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel has posed the question where giant American corporations like Apple, Cisco and IBM would be if they had not sourced the best products and talent from across the world.

“I don’t think that we have heard the last word on the US policy talk about this as there was an international push back because the world has benefited from an open trading system,” Patel said, after delivering the Third Kotak Family Distinguished Lecture, sponsored by the Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

The remarks were in response to a question on the rise of protectionist tendencies in major economies.

He said the share prices of the most efficient corporations in the world were because of the global supply chains. He said the calls for protectionism in the US were on account of equity and domestic distribution issues which “textbook economics tell us should be addressed through domestic fiscal policy” such as taxation and income transfers.