Letters: Bartering with Africa

Apropos Jayanta Roy's article "Time to scrap the annual trade policy" (March 25), not only the current account deficit, but also the rapidly burgeoning negative balance of trade, owing to heavy imports of coal, oil and gas and falling exports, pose serious concerns. It's time for India to revamp its foreign trade policy. The recent India-Africa conclave brought to light the potential of the little-tapped African market for both imports and exports. Most African countries need infrastructure projects such as power, road, ports and rail, but lack sufficient funds. At the same time, they have huge deposits of coal and gas (for our power projects), phosphate (for our fertiliser industry) and oil. Hence, India should resort to the traditional way of "barter" trading, or even "rupee trade" akin to the one with the erstwhile USSR using an escrow account. This will not only reduce the country's trade imbalance but will also open the floodgates for other Indian products and services into Africa.

N Balasubramanian, New Delhi

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