Reintegrating India with the World Economy

In the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, India was well integrated into the world economy, with its merchandise exports accounting for 4.5 per cent of the world total in 1913. But India saw a steady decline of its share over the course of the century, dropping to 2.9 per cent in 1950, and finally plunging to less than 0.5 per cent by the 1980s. The decline was largely attributed to a post-independence strategy of national self-sufficiency premised on a closed economy. As other countries in the region gradually liberalized their economies, India finally followed suit in the early 1990s. In this study, Professors Srinivasan and Tendulkar examine this history in greater detail and analyze its implications for today's India. They explore the hypothesis that had the country followed a different strategy, the country's GDP growth would have been more rapid and Indian trade would have grown even faster than GDP. Chapters focus on trade issues, external factors, and foreign direct investment. Looking to the future, the authors discuss India's role in the World Trade Organization, especially with regard to the proposed "Millennium Round" of multilateral negotiations and current attempts to relate trade to labour, environmental and human rights issues. The final chapter evaluates the process of economic reform and offers policy recommendations in this regard.