India cannot be export powerhouse without being open to imports: Panagariya

India should send the signal that “we stand for globalisation, we stand for exports but are not afraid to import”, if we want to grow exports, said Arvind Panagariya, professor of economics and the Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian political economy at Columbia University.

Except for a gap of about 200 years, India has been a large contributor to global output, Panagriya wrote in his book India Unlimited: Reclaiming the Lost Glory. In 1820, India contributed about 16% of global gross domestic product (GDP). China (33% of world GDP) and India together controlled half of the world’s GDP. Currently, India’s