Stop the protectionist trend

Budget should reverse two-year slide towards closed economy

Over the last few years, India has reversed its policy of tariff reduction to one favouring protectionism. The fact is that import substitution is regularly spoken of — including as recently as last week — as a priority for the government on the illogical argument that India’s “infant” domestic industries need to be protected. The protectionist moves are obvious even in the recent step to restrict the purchase of duty-free liquor at airports and the proposed import restrictions on a host of products in the “others” category. Recent Union Budgets have also reversed a quarter century of increasing openness by