India’s Exports: Perspectives and Sectoral Trends

India’s foreign trade has been improving over the last decade and a half, even though it is still to achieve a significant share in the overall world trade. The exports are no longer seen as needed only for getting dollars for payment of imports, as was the case when the nation followed import substitution as the policy in the early years. In recent years, India s exports have become more and more competitive in the global markets and are penetrating into new markets. The range of exports has also expanded over the years. The export basket has value added items in the form of machinery, engineering goods and automobiles. India has been the forerunner in becoming an international hub for automobiles and components. But, it is a fact that, along with the growth in merchandise exports, imports are also growing at a fast pace and this has led to a trade deficit. But this gap in the current account is narrowed down by the export of services. Overall, India s foreign trade has strengthened over the years and the large capital flows have also led to accumulation of foreign reserves that present a very comfortable picture. In this context, this book will make useful reading, capturing the important perspectives of India s exports and highlighting the sectoral developments. It presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of the happenings in India’s foreign trade, especially exports.