Objectives and Domestic Protection Measures

India's trade policy focuses on creating a facilitative environment for exports across manufacturing, services, and agriculture. To ensure fair competition and safeguard domestic industries from predatory pricing and market distortions, the government implements specialized instruments including:

• Anti-Dumping Duties: Imposed to offset foreign goods sold below production cost in domestic markets.
• Countervailing Duties: Levied to neutralize unfair foreign government subsidies on imported goods.
• Safeguard Measures: Temporary import restrictions deployed to protect domestic industries from sudden, unforeseen surges in imports.

Concurrently, flagship initiatives like Make in India promote foreign direct investments (FDI) to expand manufacturing's share of GDP and drive employment generation.

Multilateral and Regional Trade Agreements

As an active member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), India engages in multilateral trade discussions while pursuing strategic bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) to secure broader market access for its exporters.

Economic Impacts and Structural Challenges

While proactive trade policies have driven export growth and attracted investments, sustaining this momentum requires overcoming persistent economic bottlenecks:

• Infrastructure Bottlenecks: Deficiencies in multi-modal transport and logistics networks elevate transaction costs.
• Regulatory Hurdles: Complex bureaucratic compliance procedures complicate business operations and deter foreign investors.