India rejects West's criticism of trade policy

Geneva, Sep 16 (PTI) India Friday rejected the criticism
of its trade policy, especially by the US, at the WTO and
asked the members to judge the country by what it has done
over the years.
"Nearly all of you, including our partners in regional
trade agreements have commended India's openness and continued
liberalisation ... I am, therefore, somewhat puzzled at the
criticism levelled at us by some members about the inadequate
market access offered by India," India's Commerce Secretary
Rahul Khullar told WTO members.
"Judge us by what we have done over the years and not by
the latitude we have," he said, in a response to the US
criticism that "the agriculture sector in India remains closed
to many foreign products".
The US trade envoy Ambassador Michael Punke expressed
sharp concern "about the lack of transparency in many aspects
of India's trade policy" and a range of restrictions faced by
members in the government procurement, agriculture trade, weak
enforcement of intellectual property rights and sanitary and
phytosanitary measures.
Some other WTO members also expressed concern about
rising anti-dumping measures and continued gap between the
applied and bound tariffs by India.
Khullar argued that despite large merchandise trade
deficit, which is projected to increase to 11.5 per cent of
the GDP in 2013-14, India has kept its markets open for
imports.
The Secretary said the concern about "the large gap"
between bound and applied tariffs for agricultural products is
"nothing but a reflection of our steady and continued
autonomous tariff liberalisation".
He said there is no merit in labelling "India’s import
licensing regime as complex". Khullar said that it affects
only a few restricted items primarily on grounds of protection
of human, animal and plant life and the environment.
He also dismissed the concerns raised by the US that
Indian apparel and garment exporters receive special tax
credits saying "our export promotion schemes are based on the
concept of duty neutralisation and providing a level playing
field".
As regards trade remedy measures, particularly
anti-dumping, India said if "it had a protectionist intent,
then the easy route of increasing the tariffs up to the bound
rates was available to us, we have not gone down that
road."
The chair for the trade policy review mechanism
Ambassador Mario Matus said members "praised India for having
used trade policy to promote sustainable growth".