How quality control orders are crippling India's trade competitiveness

India's exporters are already under dire threat from the US. That only makes it more important that they should not be attacked from the domestic side. QCOs must be eliminated immediately

Just when exporters are coming under threat from abroad, they are also apparently facing disability from within the country. They have been hit by Quality Control Orders (QCOs), a new instrument which combines the worst of policy’s protectionist, non-transparent, discretionary and micro-management instincts. This would be a costly combination at any time, but now is a particularly bad moment to make life more difficult for exporters. The QCOs must be eliminated urgently. 

 

A quick history: Following 25 years of slow but steady opening,