Make products competitive sans doles: Kher to India Inc
India has been ranked a low 119 out of 130 countries on an index that measures business resilience of nations based on economic, risk quality and supply chain factors
Commerce secretary Rajeev Kher on Thursday cautioned Indian industry on the changing global trade scenario and asked them to enhance product competitiveness in the international market without seeking “subsidies” and “doles”.
Mr Kher reminded the industry that it must remain alive and respond to two emerging global developments — first that in two to three years the global trading architecture will undergo a paradigm shift, where competition will be the key and subsidies may no longer be available.
The second is the change in the institutional architecture for trading where foreign trade stakeholders would have to take into account mega- regionals such as the trans- pacific partnership and the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreements.
“It is a challenge for us to become competitive in the sense of global competitiveness. We have to acknowledge that we have to become competitive not through the route of subsidies and not through the route of doles,” commerce secretary Mr Kher said while interacting with members of Ficci on Foreign Trade Policy. He pointed out that enhancing competitiveness in the global market means increasing the quality, standards and terms of prices.
Commerce secretary underlined the fact that the global trading architecture is completely changing and within 2- 3 years, the Indian industry will see a paradigmatic shift in the global trade.