No real plan for exports

Advisory report on trade promotion misses the mark

Last year, the Union ministry of commerce and industry set up a High-Level Advisory Group to recommend ways in which India could improve its export performance. This report has now been made public, and provides a useful indicator of the thinking in government circles about trade policy. From that point of view, it makes for worrying reading. While it accepts that much has gone wrong with India’s export performance, its recommendations are simply not up to the job. The report correctly points out that Indian exports are in severe trouble. This is not something that can be blamed upon deglobalisation