WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/TPR/M/249 
14 October 2011 
 (11-5022) 
Trade Policy Review Body 
14 and 16 September 2011  
 
 
 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW 
 
INDIA 
 
Record of the Meeting 
 
Chairperson:  H.E. Mr. Mario Matus (Chile) 
 
  Page 
 
I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON 3 
II. OPENING STATEMENT BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF INDIA 5 
III. STATEMENT BY THE DISCUSSANT 10 
IV. STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS 13 V. REPLIES BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF INDIA AND ADDITIONAL 
 COMMENTS  61 
VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON 70 
 
Note:   Advance written questions by WTO Me mbers and the replies provided by India are 
reproduced in document WT/TPR/M/249/Add.1 and will be available online at:  
http://www.wto.org/english/tr atop_e/tpr_e/tp_rep_e.htm.    WT/TPR/M/249 
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  I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON 
1. The fifth Trade Policy Review of India was held on 14 and 16 September 2011.  
The Chairperson H.E. Mr. Mario Matus (Chile) welcomed the delegation of India headed by 
Mr. Rahul Khullar, Secretary, Department of Commerce, and the discussant, H.E. Mr. Bozkurt Aran (Turkey).   
2. The Chairperson recalled the purpose of the Trad e Policy Reviews and the main elements of 
the procedures for the meeting.  The report by India was contained in document WT/TPR/G/249 and that of the WTO Secretariat in WT/TPR/S/249. 
3. Questions by the following delegations had been  submitted in writing at least two weeks in 
advance and had been transmitted to  the delegation of India:  Brazil;  Mexico;  China;  the United 
States; Switzerland;  the Republic of Korea;  Malaysia ;  Turkey;  Pakistan;  New Zealand;  Australia;  
Chile;  Singapore;  Colombia;  the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;  Hong Kong, China;  Peru;  Indonesia;  Costa Rica;  Japan;  Norway;  th e European Union;  Chinese Taipe i;  Canada, and Thailand.  The 
following delegations submitted writte n questions after the two-weeks deadline:  Argentina and Viet 
Nam.  
4. The Chairperson said that he had carefully consid ered the reports prepared for the meeting by 
India and the Secretariat.  This Trade Policy Review of India provided an opportunity to discuss certain aspects of the country's trade policy that  were of interest to all Members, including 
the following: 
5. Trade liberalization .  During the period under review, India had continued to reap the 
benefits from the process of trad e liberalization and structural re forms initiated in the 1990s, as could 
be seen from the rapid annual rate of growth in  real GDP of 8.4% annually on average between 
2006/2007 and 2010/2011, despite the impact of the global economic crisis, which only caused 
a slight slowdown in growth.  As had been the case for several years, this growth had been driven by 
services and manufacturing, the two most important sectors in terms of their contribution to GDP, while agriculture had expanded much more slowly.  The outlook for India's growth appeared to be 
healthy with an estimated potential rate of GDP grow th of 8 to 8.5%.  The Secretariat report, however, 
indicated that sustained growth would imply tack ling the existing bottlenecks and investing more in 
infrastructure and education.  The report also point ed out that the business environment needed to be 
streamlined, doing away with over-regulation.  B ecause of India's important role in the global 
economy, it would be of considerable interest to hear its points of view in that regard. 
6. Participation in the multilateral system and regionalism .  Since the previous Review 
in 2007, India had signed several free trade agre ements and was currently negotiating others.  
It viewed these as a means of improving market access  for its exports and considered that regionalism 
should complement multilateralism.  Despite th is generally positive perception of regional 
agreements, India still had some reservations con cerning regionalism because of its complexity and 
the possible trade distortion it might cause.  In that connection, it would be interesting to hear India's 
views on the effectiveness of regional agreemen ts in providing market opportunities and to know 
whether India had identified any actual instances of trade distortion. 
7. Active utilization of trade policy .  India actively utilized trade policy in support of growth 
and employment.  The precepts of foreign trade po licy were currently directed at streamlining import 
procedures and lowering import barriers.  Anothe r important objective was to increase exports 
in order to generate growth a nd jobs.  Expansion of exports wa s being promoted by implementing 
a series of plans to "neutralize" the cost of impor ted inputs used in exports.  Such schemes, however, 
contributed to the complexity of India's trade regime .  Measures had also been taken to attract foreign 
investment such as increasing the number of s ectors in which FDI was permitted and reducing WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 4  
 
  sectoral restrictions.  In that regard, however, as not ed by several Members in their questions, I would 
like to point out that, despite the liberalization ach ieved in the FDI regime, restrictions remained.  
I should like to take this opportunity to urge Indi a to continue and deepen the process of opening up 
already initiated as it would help to accelerate and sustain growth. 
8. Use of contingency measures .  India was one of the most active users of anti-dumping 
measures among WTO Members.  During the period un der review, over 200 investigations had been 
initiated, involving 34 partners, and 207 anti-dum ping measures had been imposed.  Those figures 
were higher than the figures recorded for the period  covered by the previous Review.  The products 
involved included mainly chemicals and products th ereof, plastics and rubber and products thereof, 
base metals, textiles and clothing.  Since the previous Review in 2007, India had also imposed several 
safeguard measures.  Following an amendment to  the legislation, since 2010 safeguard measures 
could also be in the form of quantitative restrictions .  I should like to ask India to explain to us the 
reasons for this increased use of contingency meas ures, and also the changes in its legislation, 
particularly bearing in mind that in this time of cr isis it was important to keep markets open in order 
to boost trade among countries and,  consequently, global growth. 
9. Incentives .  India granted direct and indirect assistance to various sectors of the economy.  
Most central Government subsidies were destined for agriculture.  Moreover, in order to reduce the 
anti-export bias inherent in the import and indir ect tax regimes, a number of duty remission and 
exemption schemes were in place to facilitate exports.  Export-free zones (now called special 
economic zones) also provided investors with tax exemptions.  The various states in the Union also had other incentive schemes.  It would therefore be  interesting to know whether India had evaluated 
the effectiveness of those schemes and given consid eration to streamlining its import regime instead 
of providing support for exports by reducing the anti-export bias.  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  II. OPENING STATEMENT BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF INDIA 
10. India's last Trade Policy Review took place in 2007. Just four years later, the world is a vastly 
different place. What began as a banking crisis eventu ally ballooned into a gl obal economic crisis that 
left no part of the world untouched. India too was buf feted by this global turmoil. It was only last year 
that we cautiously began rolling back some of th e measures that were put in place to mitigate the 
impact of the crisis. 
11. India has a large economy and a complex, vibrant democracy. It has attracted global attention 
for its rapid and sustained economic growth, its resilience in the face of  the global crisis and its robust 
democratic processes. We have a widely respect ed election system, a multi-layered devolution of 
powers, strong IT and engineering capabilities, entrep reneurial talent and demographic advantages.  
Less visible but equally well known is the other side of the India story – the endemic poverty in which 
a quarter of our population is mired; the dependence on agriculture for livelihood; the inadequacy of  
health care and education facilities; and not least, the challenges of governing the largest democracy 
in the world.  
12. As India integrates ever more closely with th e global economy, inclusive growth has become 
a national imperative and, therefore, the touchstone  of policies in the country today. Rapid growth, 
coupled with the remarkable spread of communi cations technology, and increasing exposure to the 
outside world are all contributing to a vigorous churni ng of the Indian economy and society that is, in 
turn, giving rise to opportunities for change as well as some major challenges.  Inclusive development 
is the central tenet of public policy, be it social, fi nancial, economic or trade policy. The focus is on 
rural development, food security, guaranteed employment and education, skill development, 
innovation and financial inclusion. 
13. Over the last four years the economy grew at around 8% per annum, testimony to the strength 
of its underlying fundamentals. Even in the wors t phase of the recent global financial crisis, GDP 
grew at 6.8%. Such growth was achieved in the f ace of high energy prices and rising food prices. 
And, to compound matters, there were domestic ch allenges of negative growth in the agriculture and 
allied sectors in 2008-09, a drought in 2009-10, and unseasonal late rains that affected the winter crop 
in 2010-11. 
14. Pragmatic economic policies and the calibrated reforms process pursued during the past two 
decades helped in minimising the impact of the crisis. During the period under review India's GDP crossed the trillion dollar mark and it remain ed the second fastest growing economy.  
15. Capital formation remains essential to sustai ning high rates of growth. The saving and 
investment rates have shown an upward trend in  recent years, and capital flows into the country 
remain high. India continues to be a sought after destination for investment. FDI inflows to India 
increased even during the crisis period.  
16. India has a favourable demographic profile. Over 56% of the population belongs to the 
working age group of 15-59 years, and 7.5% is in the 60 plus age group. The next three decades or so 
will see a decline in the dependency ratio, giving India a demographic advantage over several other 
countries. 
17. But challenges abound. Infrastructure remains a major constraint to development; one that 
needs urgent and immediate attention. We encour age private sector participation and have taken 
several steps to improve the investment climate in the country.  Inflationary pressures and an 
uncertain global economic environment have placed some dampeners on India's growth prospects. 
The latest estimates suggest that the economy is slow ing. Persistently high inflation and slow global 
economic recovery, have led to a m oderation in estimates of sustainable growth rates. Inflation always WT/TPR/M/249 
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  poses a challenge to policy-makers but more so in a large economy like India where growth and 
development are unevenly distributed. Prolonged in flation, especially in food items, has serious 
welfare implications in particular for those livin g below the poverty line. Controlling inflation is 
essential to the pursuit of India's inclusive development agenda.  Several steps have been taken to rein 
in inflation including a tightening of monetary policy, a reduction in customs duties on a number of 
essential food items, and some temporary export restrictions. 
18. While there are a variety of reasons underlying the rise in prices of various food items, a long-
term solution must necessarily encompass measures to increase agricultural production, reduce 
wastage, provide credit support to farmers and develop the food processing sector.  
19. The agriculture sector is of critical importance to the Indian economy both for food security 
and for gainful employment. It employs close to 58% of the population and is the mainstay of the 
rural areas where the majority of Indians live. For small and marginal farmers, most of whom till farms that are less than one hectare in size, agri culture is a matter of survival, not of commerce. 
Agricultural development lies at the heart of the count ry's growth strategy. The object is to accelerate 
agricultural growth and rapidly increase productivity.  Policies are aimed at crop diversification, 
research and development, diversification into ho rticulture, dairying and food processing, and the 
absorption of surplus labour by other sectors.  
20. The services sector has emerged as the largest contributor to GDP. With an annual growth 
rate of 10%, this sector has been driving India's economic growth. It accounts for about a quarter of 
total employment.    
21. In the somewhat unconventional development path charted by India, the manufacturing sector 
has lagged behind. The share of the manufacturing sector in GDP has been stagnant at around 15% 
over the years. Employment in the sector has not ke pt pace with India's requirements. Over the next 
few decades we expect a decline in the total proporti on of the workforce involved in agriculture. This 
would call for finding substantial non-farm employment opportunities.   
22. The Government realises the importance of the manufacturing sector in job creation, and in 
keeping the huge merchandise account deficit under cont rol and is finalising a policy to raise the share 
of manufacturing in GDP to 25% by 2022. Besides the employment imperative, the development of 
the sector is critical to ensure a sustainable growth rate. A thriving manufacturing sector will drive R&D, the adoption of new technologies and innovation. Our policy aims to promote industries with the competence to leverage the growing opportuniti es at home and abroad. Our reform process has 
completed two decades and the journey continues.  Reform is invariably complex in a lively 
democracy like India. However, the commitment to reform is unwavering. De spite various pulls and 
pressures, we are moving forward.   
23. We continue to simplify and liberalize our FD I policy to provide greater predictability and 
clarity to foreign investors. As of today, almost a ll sectors are fully open to FDI, with a very small list 
of sectors subject to some restrictions.  The rationalisation and liberalisation of the policy is an 
ongoing process. A major exercise was undertaken in 2010 to consolidate all FDI regulations into one 
document. This consolidated docum ent is updated every six months.  
24. Steps are being taken across the board to a ddress the challenges of governance in a large 
democracy like India. We are simplifying and rationa lising our tax laws. Fina ncial sector laws are 
being rewritten in order to bring them in harmony with global best practices. A number of measures 
have been taken to strengthen IT infrastructure for tax administration. The rapid expansion of mobile 
banking will give a fillip to financial inclusion,  with the number of bank account holders set to 
snowball over the next few years, especially in rural areas.  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  25. We are engaged in improving our procurement systems. The Government is promoting the 
use of an e-procurement platform for greater tran sparency.  To enhance tr ansparency, accountability 
and efficiency in governance and public service delivery, an ambitious project to provide a unique 
identity for each resident across th e country has been launched. This  would be used primarily as the 
basis for efficient delivery of welfare services.  
26. India remains committed to trade liberalisati on and deeper integration with the global 
economy and we have come a long way since 2005 -06. Total merchandise trade has increased from 
US$252 billion in 2005-06 to US$597 billion in 2010-11. In terms of share in GDP this is an increase 
from 30.2% of GDP in 2005-06 to 34.5% in 2010-11. According to the WTO's World Trade Report, India's world ranking, both as an exporter and importe r of goods, has improved in 2010. A favourable 
trade policy and domestic reforms have enabled India to improve its trade performance and exhibit its 
resilience in the face of the global crisis. 
27. The economic crisis moderated the growth of our merchandise exports to 13.6% in 2008-09 
but since then it has rebounded to 37.5% during 2010-11. The robust export growth reflects the success of our policy of market diversification. La tin America, Africa, ASEAN, West Asia and South 
Asia have emerged as promising ma rkets. There is also greater value addition now in India's export 
basket. 
28. We are the 13
th largest importer of goods in the worl d with a growth of 25% in 2010 as per 
the World Trade Report.  Imports have been consis tently higher than exports, an indicator of the 
openness of our market. India runs a very large trade deficit on the merchandise account, which at 
almost 8% of GDP, is the highest in the world.  India was the 10th largest exporter of services in 2010. 
Services exports rose to US$132 billion in 2010-11. Gl obally, India has registered the highest growth 
rate of services exports in recent years, though ther e has been a distinct slowdown since the onset of 
the economic crisis. 
29. During the global economic crisis when many c ountries adopted an inward looking approach 
and resorted to various non-tariff measures, Indi a kept governmental intervention to the minimum. 
The protectionist trade measures taken by countr ies took various forms such as liberal doses of 
subsidies to their enterprises, restrictions on impor ts, fiscal incentives, and promoting the purchase of 
domestically produced goods and services.  India, on th e other hand, resorted to few trade restrictions 
during the crisis; and even these measures were temporary and quickly dismantled.  Rather than looking inward, India's engagement with the worl d deepened and widened during this period. We 
negotiated and concluded free trade agreements with ASEAN, the Re public of Korea, Malaysia and 
Japan. 
30. India continues to unilaterally reduce its tariffs and barriers to foreign trade. As mentioned in 
the Secretariat's Report, the simp le average MFN tariff rate declin ed from 15.1% in 2006-07 to 12% 
in 2010-11. Both the average agricultural and industr ial average tariffs have declined over time. The 
tariffs on 71% of our tariff lines are between 5%  and 10%. The widening gap between our bound and 
applied tariff rates reflects India's steady movement  towards a lower tariff regime.  The Secretariat's 
Report also brings out the fact that we have ad valorem  duties on about 94% of our tariff lines; 
alternate or specific duties apply to a mere 6% of al l tariff lines. All but two of our agriculture tariff 
lines have ad valorem duties. 
31. A number of members have sought clarification on the structure of India's tariff regime. Apart 
from the Basic Customs Duty, an Additional Customs Duty and a Special Additional Duty are levied 
on imports. The Additional Customs Duty is levied in lieu of the CENVAT or central excise duty that 
we collect on domestic manufactured goods. Similarly, the Special Additional Duty is levied to compensate for the domestic value-added tax. Th e objective of levying the ACD and the SAD is 
simply to provide a level playing field. WT/TPR/M/249 
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  32. During the period under review, the Government continued to streamline customs procedures 
and implement various trade facilitation measure s. Some of the initiatives taken include the 
introduction of "self assessment" for imports as we ll as exports and increased coverage of the risk 
management system to carry out assessment on ra ndomly selected bills of entry based on risk 
parameters.  The level of customs intervention in the clearance of import/export cargos has been 
progressively reduced.  
33. The Secretariat in its report as well as some Members have commented on the increase in 
anti-dumping investigations initiated during the review period. In a ll cases we have complied with 
both the letter and spirit of trade law. And,  measures, where imposed, impinge on a minuscule 
proportion of our imports.  
34. To sum up, India has continued to liberalise its trade policy since the last Review. The regime 
has become more open and transparent, applied tariffs  continue to fall, and there is little recourse to 
NTBs. Free trade agreements have further reduced tariffs. India looks upon FT As as building blocks 
for overall trade liberalisation, complementary to a well-functioning multilateral trading system.  We 
believe that an open, equitable, rule-based multilat eral trading system best serves the needs of all 
developing countries.  
35. The Doha Round has provided a historic opportunity to correct distortions in global trade and 
to improve and strengthen the rules that would enab le developing countries to play a greater role in 
world trade. It is not without reason th at it is labelled the Development Round. 
36. Developing countries need to address their co re concerns of food and livelihood security, 
besides promoting rural development, while undertak ing liberalization commitments. It is important 
for India and other developing countries to be able  to protect the interests of their nascent and 
vulnerable industries.  The development interests of su ch industries cannot be sacrificed at the altar of 
mercantilist demands, which seem utterly oblivious to  the fate of millions of people living on truly 
meagre incomes. 
37. It is in the collective interest of the entir e world to accord the hi ghest priority to the 
development needs of Least Developed Countries a nd ensure that the Round is concluded as per the 
mandate of the DDA. We perceive, with disappointm ent, a tendency to sidestep the core issues and 
come up with a new agenda. 
38. India has been steadfast in its understanding an d commitment to the needs of the LDCs. Even 
in the midst of the global economic crisis when we saw protective walls being raised, we did not 
falter. We have kept our markets open and opened them further for the poorest countries by 
introducing the Duty Free Tariff Pr eference scheme in 2008. This is testimony to our commitment to 
"inclusive globalization". 
39. We have also been assisting other developing countries to develop trade related infrastructure 
and supply side capacities. We hope to play a greater  role in training and capacity-building as well. I 
am very happy to report that India is currently hosting the WTO's Regional Trade Policy Course. It is 
indeed a privilege to be given the opportunity to serve the needs of a large number of developing 
countries in the Asia Pacific Region and to share India's experience as a founder member of the WTO. 
40. In a large and complex economy like ours, th e diversities and inequalities in incomes and 
levels of development present enormous challenges to policy makers. India's trade policy is designed 
to balance the requirements posed by increasing globa lisation, with the objective of ensuring that the 
benefits of economic growth and global integration reach the poorest and most economically 
backward sections of the population.   WT/TPR/M/249 
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  41. In this era of globalization, the destin ies of developed and developing countries are 
intertwined. It is in the best interests of all to  work collectively for global development. The founding 
Members of the WTO designed it as a uniquely democratic platform to make trade a tool that serves the objective of development, of raising standards of living, and ensuring full employment. We need 
to abide by these principles. India remains ready to work with all of you to achieve our collective 
goals.  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  III. STATEMENT BY THE DISCUSSANT (H.E. MR. BOZKURT ARAN (TURKEY)) 
42. Before indulging in Indian economy, I would like to make a simple statement. Whatever the 
course its economic regime heads for, from its inception 64 years ago till today, the constant feature of India has been the strong democratic traditions th at have been very well entrenched in its political 
system. By all means India is an incredible countr y. The Indian economy is the tenth largest in the 
world by nominal GDP, and fourth largest by pu rchasing power parity. In  terms of merchandise 
exports India ranks 20
th and in terms of imports it ranks 13th.  
43. It is a country of size, diversity, dynamism and contrasts.  A well known scholar underlines 
the dualism India faces in terms of opportunity an d problems and uses the famous novel of Charles 
Dickens: A tale of Two Cities as an analogy.  I wish  to keep in mind the dualism India brings forth in 
my expose:  the present times represent the best in I ndia side by side some inherent difficulties.   
Existing prosperity has not totally overridden the misery  of poverty.  Dazzling five stars hotels side by 
side with ill-starred hovels.  India is continental in scale and yet extremely diverse. It was once the 
biggest recipients of foreign aid, now Delhi has d ecided to provide US$11 billion of aid to developing 
countries over the next 5 to 7 years.  In some ways, Indian retail market is currently the 4th largest in 
the world. In addition to marketing basic goods to  the millions who are escaping poverty in 2010 the 
number of people with more than 1 million in invi sible assets rose to 153,000 according to the Report 
of the Merrill Lynch side by side 41.6% of the population living under 1.25 per day.  It has serious transport and logistical problems yet the country has almost 45% share in global outsourcing markets 
and has a sophisticated space program.  It has booming cities like Mumbai; however, 72% of Indian 
population still lives in rural areas.  In terms de picting contrasts and dualism, I am much more 
optimistic than the author I referred to. I think that  "India is in the spring of economic growth and the 
winter of stagnation has just been left behind". 
44. At the outset let me try to paint a picture of Indian economy with large strokes in an attempt 
to depict the background on which the trade policies are implemented. I promise to complete this task 
in 15 minutes which I am sure some will react with skepticism. However in this house it is proven that 
miracles are not short of supply. Let me start with few vignettes. 
45. A stagnant and closed economy only two decades ago, Indian economy now has become one 
of the most dynamic ones. India's strong growth mo stly emanates from basic factors high savings and 
investment rates, vast labour force and rapidly expanding middle class.  17.08% of the world population is living in India while India only contributes to 2.87% to the world GDP. 
46. Although it has ample labour endowment, some sectors have gone straight towards major 
capital intensive industries such as robotics.  
47. India had around a billion dollar in foreign curre ncy reserve in 1991 and was forced to airlift 
47 tons of gold to the bank of England as collatera l for loans; after two decades of liberalization now 
it has more than US$300 billion in reserve.  
48. India is the third destination of FDI inflows and 20
th provider of FDI outflows. Inward FDI 
had been US$24 billion in 2010 at the same period outward foreign investment had reached US$14.6 
billon. FDI stock has p eaked to US$188 billion. 
49. India has always been active and contributed immensely to the DDA negotiations and secured 
a place for herself as one the top major players. On th e flip side of the coin, Indian press and scholars 
pay a lot of attention to what we do in WTO. In a cursory survey I did by counting the articles in Press Review prepared by the Secretariat on the last seven days I found there have been on the average five 
articles per day on WTO issues published in Indian press.   WT/TPR/M/249 
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  50. During the review period, Indian economy con tinued to expand at a fast pace despite the 
minor slowdown due to the 2008 global economic cris is. India had recorded 9% average growth from 
2006 to 2008 and was among the top tier globally. Th is positive process has been continuing. Indian 
economy grew 7.7% in the April to June period, the slowest pace in the last six quarters.  
51. It has been a regular and strong supporter of  the multilateral system. One interesting point 
made at the Secretariat's Report is that India pursu es bilateral arrangements, it also believes that such 
an approach has certain drawbacks. I hope Co mmerce Secretary will share his thoughts on the 
dichotomy between multilateralism and regionalism.  
52. The sustained reforms undertaken by the Indi an Government since 1991 resulting in a rapid 
economic growth have accelerated a dynamic transformation. Although India can be considered a 
relatively late comer in terms of  economic reforms it is  now underway to narrow the gap between the 
two poles of the dualism. Yet, in terms of further reform and liberalization India needs to accomplish 
more.  
53. The infrastructural challenges seem to be one of the major constraints to the future course of 
India's economy, trade and GDP growth. In Indi a's Government Report, it was underlined that 
economic growth has outpaced the growth of infrastru cture.  The Secretariat Report mentions that the 
11th five-year plan outlined a comprehensive strategy to improve both urban and rural infrastructure.  
Further information and analysis about the main c ourse of future infrastructure plans and reforms will 
be very much interesting for the membership.  
54. An important component of India's economic reforms, without doubt, lies in the area of tariff 
reforms. New Delhi has continued its tariff liberalization process during the review period.  Simple 
average tariff rate of India declined from 15% in 2006-07 to 12% in 2010-11.  The average for non-
agricultural products at 8.9% is considerably lower th an the average for agricultu ral tariffs which is at 
33.3%. Approximately 75% of India's tariffs are bound, 100% for agriculture and 71.6% for non-agricultural goods. Average bound tariff is 118.3% for agricultural goods and 32% for non-agricultural goods. 
55. India's bound tariff levels are much higher than  the applied rates especially for agricultural 
sector. This difference between the applied and boun d tariffs provides New Delhi with a wide scope 
to change its tariff rates in response to market c onditions. However, on the other side it also carries 
the potential to increase the unpredictability of the trad e regime as voiced quite often by the exporters.  
56. India has made important strides in terms of liberalization of its tariff structure during and 
before the review period. However, in terms of simp lification and liberalization of its tariff structure, 
and narrowing the difference between applied and b ound tariffs there is an ample ground for further 
reform.  Members will benefit from having additional information concerning the future course of its 
tariff reform.  
57. The Secretariat Report noted that during the re view period, India continued to streamline 
customs procedures and implement trade facilitati on measures.  The improvement in the "time 
requirement" for customs clearance since 2007 deserv es noting. According to the Secretariat Report, 
average import procedures are now completed in 20 days as compared to 41 days in 2007.  However, in the same paragraph of the report, the Secretariat also underlines the fact that despite the measures, 
India's import regime remained complex. It woul d be elucidating to hear how such regulatory 
practices are implemented in such a way that they w ill be free of the trade distorting impacts.  A last 
note on this subject, it is good to note that In dia has become an obser ver to the Government 
Procurement Agreement last year.  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  58. Over the past decade, India h as become the world's leading user of anti-dumping measures. 
As of the end of 2010 India has imposed 436 anti-dumping measures; 373 of these measures were imposed in the last decade. In terms of safeguard m easures, India is also the world's leading user of 
safeguards with 12 measures as the end of 2010.  
59. India has experienced a significant liberalization of its import regime over the past 20 years 
and is now well-integrated into the global economy . As a result of trade liberalization and increasing 
imports it is possible that the number of petitions from the domestic industry might have increased 
dramatically. However, it is clear from the ques tions that increased and extensive use of trade 
remedies especially anti-dumping measures have ra ised major concerns among Members. In this 
context, a question inevitability comes to mind. Shoul d the trend in applying trade remedies continue 
with the existing pace in the future; how does India wi sh to address and alleviate the concerns of the 
exporting countries? 
60. Agriculture has been and still remains to be the backbone of the Indian economy. About 52% 
of the Indian workforce is still in agriculture sector. Obviously, India has been facing a number of 
major challenges in the agriculture sector. In addition to highly populated work force and in particular 
the agricultural population in scattered subsistence farming, the issues regarding productivity require 
attention in a broader perspective.  Therefore, striking a balance between international trade and 
domestic needs and supply-demand relation must be a delicate issue. This has been reflected in the 
Indian trade regime through a number of various meas ures which seems to result in a complex web of 
agricultural policies.  
61. While the Secretariat's Report points out that India has progressively opened its agricultural 
sector into international trade, Members questions regarding to tariff structures and various policies 
such as SPS show the increasing interest on this sector. No doubt that there is still room for improvement in these areas, for instance, by addr essing the high tariffs, improving predictability and 
reducing non-tariff measures.  
62. As mentioned in the Report services account more than half of the total GDP of the Indian 
economy despite the infrastructural inadequacies. It is  noteworthy to mention that in software services 
and in outsourcing India is among the leading services exporters. To tap the full potential of the sector 
to a higher level it will be interesting to find th e measures, the Indian government is planning to 
implement in the near future.  
63. In the international pres there are indications that the government will continue to reform 
foreign investment regime. These reforms are mainly intended to be realized in incremental steps. 
Single window facility and consolidating FDI regulati ons to improve transparency will certainly be 
regarded as steps in the right direction. To k eep pace with the rapidly developing economy reforms 
needed to be made especially in the financial sect or. Regulatory differences across states are another 
issue to be tackled.  
64. The last issue I would like to raise before c oncluding is the intellectual property rights. A 
number of Members have voiced the different aspect s of the IPR regime in India. Besides some 
legislative issues, most of the issues are relate d to implementation. For a country which heavily 
involves in the information technologies, I beli eve that India will accord a similar degree of 
importance to it.  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  IV. STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS 
BRAZIL 
 
65. If there is one particular element that stands out  from all this wealth of information on recent 
economic developments in India, that is the unique combination of, on the one hand, a dynamic 
economy that was able to post impressive growth ra tes and, on the other, the careful use of trade 
policy instruments to help meeting those growth objectives. The Secretariat's Report stresses that 
"India uses trade policy actively, sometimes as an in strument to attain its long-term goals, such as 
promoting overall economic growth, or fostering indus trialization, development, or self-sufficiency". 
66. The case of India demonstrates clearly that an "emerging" economy, with an increasingly 
larger share of world trade, cannot do and sh ould not do without trade policy space. Quite the 
opposite, that space is much needed and will conti nue to be needed to support development and 
poverty-alleviation programs, particularly at times such as ours, with a good deal of uncertainty as to the growth prospects for the world economy.    
67. Brazil congratulates India for its strong ec onomic performance during the period under 
review. In spite of the global economic crisis, I ndia's GPD expanded by approximately 8.4% per year 
between 2007 and 2011. It is expected to continue to grow at healthy rates in the years to come. 
68. India deserves praise for its continued success in global markets in recent years, especially in 
services, an area that demands skilled labour and in wh ich developing countries have been, in general, 
less competitive. As highlighted in the Government Report, India's share in total global goods and services trade increased from 0.9% in 2003 to 1.6% in 2008. And notwithstanding the persistent trade 
deficit, exports increased threefold in the five years between 2003-04 and 2008-09.  
69. We are also pleased to note the continuation of efforts aimed at strengthening macroeconomic 
fundamentals without losing sight, again, of the obj ective of sustainable and inclusive development. 
In this respect, Brazil commends India for the a doption of measures related to: micro, small and 
medium enterprises; skill developments; innovation; financial inclusion and, above all, agricultural 
development.  
70. The bilateral relationship between Brazil and Indi a has been marked by close and friendly ties 
as well as by converging goals in many areas.  Bilate ral relations have been strengthened also by 
means of the participation of both countries in fora  such as IBSA and BRICS. In addition, India has 
been one of Brazil's closest partners in political and economic multilateral diplomacy.  
71. Bilateral trade has intensified considerably in  the period under review. Trade flows have more 
than tripled during the last five years, totalling US$7.7 billion in 2010 with consistent surplus for 
India. In 2010, India's surplus amounted to US$750 million. Brazil's exports to India have been concentrated on crude oil, fuels, mineral waxes and sugar, but also included items such as iron, steel 
and machinery. Brazil's imports from India have b een chiefly diesel oil, chemicals, machinery, 
synthetic fiber and cotton fiber. There is undoubtedly scope for further increase in bilateral trade, and 
the two countries are making efforts to achieve this objective.   
72. Regarding investments, there has been growin g reciprocal interest from companies of both 
countries, which is certainly a consequence of solid macroeconomic fundamentals coupled by the 
growth potential of both countries. Areas of prio rity have been pharmaceuticals, chemicals, 
petrochemicals, engineering, information tec hnology, transportation a nd others. Strengthened 
cooperation in areas such as defense, agricultu re, energy, space, science and technology among 
others, will pave the way for even greater volumes of bilateral investment. WT/TPR/M/249 
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  73. Brazil feels encouraged by India's commitmen t to an open, non-discriminatory and rules-
based multilateral trading system. India, as mentione d in the Secretariat's Report, has continued to 
take measures to streamline customs procedur es and implement trade facilitation measures. 
Additionally, India reduced its average MFN tariff rate from 15.1% in 2006/07 to 12% in 2010/11.  
74. As pointed out in the Secretariat's Report, Indi a has participated actively in the Doha Round 
negotiations, always supporting th e development dimension of the DDA. India also deserves praise 
for the emphasis it has always put on the need to preserve the cred ibility of the WTO during difficult 
moments of the Round. As Members of the G-20, Brazil and India share a common approach to the way forward in agricultural negotiations, with a view to levelling off the playing field.  
75. Brazil commends India's efforts to improve its  intellectual property rights system. We share 
India's commitment to ensure that the TRIPS Ag reement fosters innovation in the developing world 
and does not prevent countries from taking measures to protect public health, as expressed in the 
Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Pub lic Health. Together with a broad coalition of 
developing countries, Brazil and India have presented, in April 2011, a text proposal for the inclusion 
of a mandatory disclosure requirement of the origin  of genetic resources in patent applications. We 
are convinced this is a necessary step to avoid "b iopiracy" and the misapprop riation of our genetic 
resources. 
76. Regarding the negotiations on non-tariff barriers,  India and Brazil share the same objective of 
reducing obstacles to trade in products of export in terest to developing countries, while taking into 
account the special needs of developing countries to  implement new commitments in this area. India 
and Brazil are co-sponsors of three proposals on NTBs. 
77. On trade facilitation, Indian negotiators have work ed to try to achieve a text that could be an 
instrument for both trade and development. Here, India and Brazil are co-sponsors of a proposal on 
the important issue of Customs Cooperation. In the services negotiations, Brazil is particularly grateful for the leading role played by India in ta lks related to temporary m ovement of natural persons 
(Mode 4), an issue of interest to us and to developing countries in general. 
78. Brazil also notes India's participation in ne gotiations of regional and bilateral trade 
agreements, including with MERCOSUR, and welcom es India's point of view that FTAs should be a 
step towards overall trade liberalization, complement ing the multilateral trading system. Brazil is also 
involved in such processes, especially in South Ameri ca, and shares Indian views in this respect.  
MEXICO 
79. I would like to begin by underlining the rapid economic growth achieved by India in recent 
years, especially taking into account the global ec onomic situation and its impact on India's main 
export markets.  As highlighted in the Secr etariat's report, strong domestic demand and sound 
government spending have been the driving forces fo r growth, but the best is yet to come:  it is 
forecast that India's GDP will grow at around 8%, an enviable figure for many of our countries. 
80. Nevertheless, despite this highl y impressive economic performance, India has been unable to 
overcome some challenges of an urgent nature satisf actorily, for example:  reducing the fiscal deficit, 
largely caused by increased government spending but  also by a tax regime that requires reform;  
containing the growing deficit in the current  account, which doubled between 2009 and 2010;  
reducing poverty, economic growth is not sufficien t, the programmes intended exclusively to combat 
poverty need to be reinforced;  developing the ph ysical infrastructure;  expanding non-agricultural 
employment;  and implementing appr opriate policies to ensure that the flows of rural migration to 
urban areas take place in a more orderly fashion.  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  81. As to trade policy measures, we must high light the clear objectives which India has set 
for 2020:  doubling its share of global exports;  achie ving sustained growth of 25% for its exports.  It 
is highly likely that it will manage to achieve these objectives as India has tripled its exports in just 
a few years at an annual rate of growth of 19%.  The 31% increase in exports in 2010 is therefore 
impressive, but it is clear that this was in f act a rebound following the decrease experienced the 
previous year. 
82. The increasing use of trade policy instruments (for example, export and import licensing and 
restrictions) in order to achieve non-trade objectiv es such as curbing increased inflation remains 
a matter of concern.  Trade policy is not intended fo r such objectives.  One clear example is the policy 
of export restrictions for cotton.  As can be seen clearly from table II.4 in the Secretariat report, 
four measures have been imposed in only 16 months:  exports were freed in August 2010, restricted in 
May 2010, freed subject to registration in August 2010 and, finally, freed subject to registration with 
a different office in December 2010. 
83. Such measures are of particular importance when  they are being applied by a key player in 
global trade such as India.  In addition to uncer tainty, the effect of these measures is to alter 
international prices with disastrous results for ma ny producers in the textiles and clothing chain. 
84. As regards trade facilitation, attention should be  drawn to the measures adopted by India such 
as the implementation of an electronic system for cu stoms clearance and a risk management system to 
selectively screen high- and medium-risk cargo.  The import regime nevertheless remains complex, especially its licensing system and the determination of the "effective" applied tariff rate, for which 
separate customs and excise tax sch edules have to be consulted. 
85. We welcome the recent legislative amendments  to competition policy, and the operation of 
India's Competition Commission since 2009. 
86. Today, India has become a strategic trading part ner for Mexico.  Over the past ten years, our 
bilateral trade has grown sevenfold and the aver age annual rate of increase has been over 20%, 
reaching almost US$3 billion in 2010.  It is im portant for market access to provide the necessary 
certainty.  Both in India and in Mexico, the gap be tween bound tariffs and those applied is very wide.  
This is but one example of how important it is to  reach a successful conclu sion to the Doha Round 
negotiations. 
CHINA 
87. I am going to divide my intervention into th ree parts, namely macro economic conditions, 
trade policy regime and bilateral relations.   
88. Firstly on macroeconomic conditions.  India is the world's 10
th largest merchandise trader 
and the 6th largest service trader.  In terms of purchasing power parity, India is the world's 4th largest 
economy. Since the early 1990s, India embarked on dramatic economic refo rms which make India 
now one of the fastest growing economies in the worl d, growing annually by over 8.4% for the period 
under review. 
89. During the global financial crisis, the Indian g overnment acted swiftly with a large stimulus 
package consisting of measures such as increased spending, lowered excise and reduced customs 
duties. This has helped its economy quickly recove red, achieving the world's highest growth rate of 
10.4% in 2010. However, according to the latest Report, India's economic growth was lowered to 
7.7% in the April-to-June period year-on-year, the sl owest in six quarters. This has given rise to the 
fear that the increase of the interest rate to arrest  inflation is sacrificing growth. We are interested in 
learning from India on how to strike a balance between the two objectives. The Secretariat Report WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 16  
 
  suggests that sustainable non-inflationary growth will require addressing bottlenecks by investing in 
infrastructure and education. It is also necessary to improve the business environment by eliminating 
overregulation and defining a more transparent trade and investment regime.  
90. Secondly on trade policy regime:  India is one of the initial contracting parties of the GATT 
and a founding Member of the WTO. For over sixty years, India has been a frontrunner in 
safeguarding the multilateral trading system and pus hing for its developmental objective. It is only 
natural that India takes the development dimension as the defining feature of all outcomes in the current Doha Development round. Specifically, de spite facing huge development challenges, India 
started to provide duty-free-quota-free access to LD Cs, which is highly commendable. China shares a 
lot of common positions and enjoys excellent coope ration with Ambassador Jayant Dasgupta and his 
team in the DDA.  I would also like to take this  opportunity to congratulate India on becoming the 
host of the WTO Trade Policy Course for the Asia-Pacific region. 
91. Trade liberalization has been an important aspect  of India’s economic reforms since the early 
1990s. In this regard, India has continued to simp lify and lower its applied import duties from 15.1% 
to 12% during the period under review. India has also  continued to streamline its customs procedures 
and implement trade facilitating measures.  
92. However, as the Secretariat Report pointed out, so me concerns exist regarding some aspect of 
its trade regime. Examples including:  India's import regime remains complex, especially its tariff structure and licensing and permit system; India is one of the most active users of anti-dumping measures among WTO Members, initiating 209 between  January 2006 and December 2010. China's 
exporters have shown their concer ns over the increased frequency of use of anti-dumping measures by 
India. 
93. China takes note that since 1 Ap ril 2010, foreign direct investment has been regulated by the 
Consolidated FDI Policy. As a result of the policy changes, the Indian economy is more open to FDI. 
However, as the Secretariat Report pointed out, speci fic conditions or permits apply, which could in 
some cases be even more restrictive than an exp licit investment cap. And the number of sectors and 
activities in which FDI is prohibited actually incr eased during the review period. China encourages 
India to take further measures to improve its  business environment and investment regime. 
94. Thirdly, let me briefly touch upon bilateral relations.  China and India are one another's 
important trading partners. We have witnessed rapid trade growth over the past decade. According to 
the Chinese customs, merchandise trade between Ch ina and India amounted to US$62 billion in 2010, 
representing an increase of 42%. Exports of India and China grew by 52% and 38% respectively.  
Given the sizes of and the complementarities between the two economies, the potential of our bilateral 
trade remains to be huge. Two-way investment is sti ll modest at the level of less than US$1 billion, 
with great potential to explore for the benefits of both countries.  
UNITED STATES 
95. India is an increasingly important trading partne r for the United States.  The total value of 
trade in goods between our two countries has increa sed over threefold since 2001, with over half of 
that coming in the last five year s despite the recent global economic downturn.  Both countries also 
continue to significantly expand i nvestment ties, with investment doubling in each direction since 
India's last TPR.  As President Obama highlighted during his visit to India last November, this booming trade and investment, led by the dynamic pr ivate sectors of our economies, has formed a 
critical component of the strategic partnership between our two countries. 
96. The United States is also pleased to note that th ese increased trade and investment flows have 
helped contribute to India's impressive 8.4% averag e growth over the past several years.  Equally  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  impressive, in our view, is the fact that this gr owth does not appear to be limited to the most 
privileged segments of society, but in fact, has been a critical factor lifting up India's burgeoning middle class.  The United States strongly believes that , combined with other initiatives taken by the 
government, market opening measures play an important  role in meeting India's objective of inclusive 
growth. 
97. We recognize, however, that more recent challeng es such as inflation have slightly tempered 
expectations for future growth in India.  In this respect, the United States invites India to consider how 
increasing the openness of the country' s trading regime can help India harness the benefits of trade to 
combat these challenges.  This would include signi ficant, long-term reductions in agricultural tariffs, 
and removal of unjustifiable SPS and TBT impedime nts on agricultural imports, both of which can 
help address food price inflation; opening the retail sector to more foreign investment, which the 
Indian Government has recognized will be valuable  in improving supply chains and greatly reducing 
food wastage; and avoiding recourse to export r estrictions, minimum export prices, and other 
measures that tend to exacerbate the prob lems associated with global supply. 
98. Indeed, the critical role played by India's ongoing economic reforms and market-opening 
measures in fostering inclusive growth, including in fields such as information and communications 
technology (ICT), is well documented, not least by the many Indian-born economists that now call the 
United States home.  It is therefore disappointing to see recent actions taken by certain entities in the 
government that appear to chart a different course fo r the development of particular industrial sectors.  
For example, the past year has w itnessed policies, already adopted or being considered, that explicitly 
shut out imports entirely, as in the case of the National Solar Mission, or require private entities to 
source a significant amount of their purchases from ma nufacturers in India, as in the case of policies 
on electronic products and telecom equipment.  Alth ough India has expressed its intention to continue 
on its successful trajectory of liberalization, these types of initiatives tend to evoke comparisons to 
trade-restrictive policies pursued in previous , poorly-performing periods of India's economic 
development. 
99. The United States has observed that goods exports have played a greater role in contributing 
to India's recent economic growth than in previ ous years.  We welcome efforts taken by India to 
diversify the sources of its growth, and in particul ar, to take advantage of more open markets around 
the world to export more goods.  It is unfortunate, how ever, that India has chosen to push exports in 
the past year through a series of new trade-distorting export incentives.  While the state of the global economy has posed difficulties for industries across WT O Members, this type of response tends to 
promote one Member's economic gains at the expen se of another.  The United States considers these 
measures particularly troubling when afforded to the textile and apparel sector, given India's 
obligation to gradually phase out export subsidies in that sector starting no later than 2007. 
100. The United States welcomes India's decision to  participate as an observer to the WTO 
Government Procurement Agreement.  A fair and transparent government procurement regime will be 
essential as India embarks on a concerted effort to improve infrastructure, which will pay significant 
dividends for India's development objectives.  Many of India's infrastructure procurements, including 
at the state level, reflect the progress made towards such a fair and transparent government 
procurement regime.  The United States is concer ned, however, that rather than moving in the 
direction of applying international best practices in government procurement, the Indian Government 
more recently appears to be severely restricting certain areas of government procurement to Indian 
goods and services.  The United States urges India to  reconsider these restrictions and to take the 
necessary steps to accede to the GP A at the earliest opportunity. 
101. The agriculture sector in Indi a remains closed to many foreign products.  Where exceedingly 
high tariffs themselves do not make importation pr ohibitive, they foster an unpredictable trading 
environment inasmuch as India can change the applie d tariff rates at a moment's notice.  Furthermore, WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 18  
 
  products often face obstacles in the form of SPS and TBT measures that appear to have no scientific 
or other justifiable basis under the WTO Agreements.  The closed nature of India's agriculture market 
is even reflected in India's re gional trade agreements, none of which contain meaningful market 
access for agricultural products, notwithstanding th e requirements of GATT Article XXIV.  Given the 
increasing concerns with food price inflation, and the growing needs of India's food processing 
industries, India's agricultural trade policy conti nues to do a disservice to consumers and producers in 
India. 
102. India's economic growth continues to be led by  its dynamic services sector.  As one of the 
leading WTO Members to have benefited so gr eatly from access to services markets around the 
world, India is in a unique position to lead by example in terms of adopting the sorts of open policies 
that it continues to press for in its trading partners.  Yet, at the same time that consumers in India are 
looking to take advantage of the services offered by  high quality, global firms, and when Indian firms 
are seeking much needed capital to expand their operations in India, India has done little to meet these 
demands, with multiple policy initiatives stalled for sev eral years.  Of even greater concern are recent 
signals that India may impose FDI caps or other investment restrictions in sectors such as 
pharmaceuticals and banking where more open policies ha ve helped those sectors flourish in India.  
Such actions do little to help the government's efforts to respond to  significantly declining FDI flows 
over the past year. 
103. India's highly successful creative and innovative industries depend greatly on the protection 
and enforcement of intellectual prope rty rights.  These rights are also prerequisites to the development 
of a value-added manufacturing sector that India seeks to establish.  India's IP policies and 
enforcement, unfortunately, do not reflect this impe rative.  Furthermore, although India has long been 
considering legislative and other initiatives to update  some of its IP policies, including the Copyright 
Bill currently before Parliament, those efforts tend to  fall well short of international best practices in 
these areas. 
104. Finally, the United States recalls that transp arency and predictabilit y in a Member's trade 
policy regime are critical for traders and investors.   In this respect, the United States commends recent 
steps taken by the Government of India towards im proving the transparency and effective functioning 
of its policymaking institutions.  Last year's d ecision by the Department of Industrial Policy and 
Promotion to begin issuing consolidated FDI polic ies has helped investors avoid searching through 
various press notes and clarifications in order to de termine the extent to which sectors were open for 
investment.  In addition, the continuing implemen tation of the Right to Information Act, begun in 
2005, has been invaluable in providing affected part ies with the legally enforceable right to receive 
information about the government's operations. 
105. Despite these improvements, the United States c ontinues to be concerned about the lack of 
transparency in many aspects of India's trade polic y.  This contributes greatly to the difficulties of 
firms, particularly small and medium-sized enterpris es, trying to invest in and trade with India, and 
helps explain India's ranking of 165 out of 183 c ountries in the World Bank's 2011 "Doing Business" 
report.  In addition to India's failure to submit requi red notifications to the WTO, particularly in the 
areas of agriculture, subsidies, SPS and TBT, Indi a does not regularly issue draft regulations or 
engage in the timely public consultations that would ensure the developm ent of sound policies in 
matters affecting trade and investment.  Furthermore, as the Secretariat Report notes, traders often face significant difficulties in areas such as customs va luation, tariffs and other charges, internal 
taxation, import licensing, and trade remedies , because of opaque or inconsistently-applied 
procedures.  A uniform, all-of government approach  to the development of regulations would go a 
long way to addressing these concerns. 
106. 
The lack of transparency in I ndia's trade policy regime is what led the United States to ask 
India so many written questions for this TPR.  We, ourselves, became increasingly amazed at how  WT/TPR/M/249 
 Page 19 
 
 
  many matters we found to be important and for which we were unable to obtain answers 
independently.  The institutional value of the TPRM in enhancing the WTO's core principle of transparency came into sharp focus. We thank I ndia in advance for its efforts to respond to our 
questions, and we plan to review its responses caref ully and request clarifications as necessary during 
the course of this TPR. 
107. As India continues to grow dynamically and to  strengthen its trade policy institutions, the 
United States encourages India to take advantage of the opportunities to implement meaningful 
economic reforms, which, as experience has show n, will significantly advance India's objectives of 
inclusive growth and economic development.  The United States joins other WTO Members in 
supporting India's use of an open trade policy to fulfilling these broader objectives.  Our support for 
such an approach, however, underscores our disappoint ment in India's reluctance to participate in 
meaningful market opening through the Doha Round negotiations, despite India's place as one of the 
world's fastest growing economies.  We look forwar d to working constructively with India and with 
other Members as we jointly take steps to stre ngthen the rules-based multilateral trading system. 
SWITZERLAND 
108. The dynamism of Indian businesses and the high annual GDP growth achieved by India 
during the past years are remarkable. I am sure, that  India has the potential to continue its impressive 
growth path. We congratulate India for this success and are convinced that I ndia will take advantage 
of its positive prospects. 
109. Bilateral economic relations be tween India and Switzerland illustrate the dynamism of the 
Indian economy.  In 2010, our bilateral trade in go ods reached a new all time height of Swiss Francs 
3.6 billion. Swiss exports to India grew by 19% while Indian exports to Switzerland grew by 26%. 
110. Both Switzerland and India are popular as touris m destinations in the other country. Swiss 
companies increasingly benefit from Indian IT-services. Swiss logistics or financial services providers, again, are increasingly interested  to expand their activities in India.  
111. With regard to direct investments, Switzerland has been actively involved in India for many 
decades. Today, some 170 joint ventures and subsidia ries of Swiss companies are operating in India in 
fields such as engineering and industrial equipm ent, chemical and pharmaceutical products, precision 
instruments and services. Swiss companies employ roughly 60,000 people in India.  It goes without saying that Switzerland is pleased to observe an incr ease of Indian direct investments in Switzerland 
as well. My country has been amongst the preferred destinations for foreign investors due to many 
location advantages that it offers. 
112. However, irrespective of the positive figures and tr ends, I must admit that given the fact that 
our countries are among the 20 largest economies in the world, our bilateral trade and investments are 
still modest. The potential to further increase our b ilateral economic exchange is thus high. As we 
noted from the Discussant, India is the 4
th retail market in the world, and therefore it seems to be 
space for Swiss specialities on the Indian market.  In this regard, we strongly welcome that 
Switzerland together with the other EFTA countries and India are currently negotiating a Broad Based 
Trade and Investment Agreement, with hope ful perspective of a rapid conclusion. 
113. Indian companies and consumers are benefiting from the progressive opening of the Indian 
economy, which allowed them to take advantages of the opportunities of globalisation. I am sure that 
these positive trends continue, if India stays on its re form path. Let me mention some areas, were we 
believe that reforms should be continued.  First,  on import duties, we encourage India to continue 
reducing its applied import duties and to bind the reduced tariffs within the GATT and to use the 
policy space it still enjoys.   WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 20  
 
  114. Second, on taxation in general, we would like to  encourage India, to swiftly implement the 
new goods and services tax. We believe that by re forming the Indian tax system, administrative 
burden may be reduced and predictability for bus inesses increased. The number and variation by 
region of import fees and taxes acts as a hindrance to trade and we would welcome efforts to 
streamline and harmonise these, knowing as a Confed eration, how difficult and time-consuming this 
is. 
115. Third, on foreign ownership limitations, such li mitations create potential distortions to both 
investments and financial decisions of investors.  Four th, on IPR, legal uncertainty persists in the area 
of intellectual property rights protection and their effective enforcement. I can mention for example 
the uncertainty regarding the legal protection of un disclosed test data submitted to the authorities in 
order to get marketing approval for pharmaceuticals or  plant protection products.  Fifth and finally, 
we would like to take this opportunity to motivate In dia to develop its observatory status to the GPA 
to a full GPA membership. I am sure that India's economy would benefit, if internal legislation on government procurement would be based on transparen t and internationally agreed provisions. We are 
of course happy to support India in this process.  
116. I am fully convinced that India just as any other country benefits from an open economy and 
from the transparent reflection of its economic openness within the WTO legal system. Increased 
legal certainty and planning reliability is of up most importance for businesses.  India will undoubtedly 
continue to play a major role in global economy policy decision making in the future. More power 
and influence comes with more responsibilities.  We trust that India pursues its constructive role in 
this difficult phase of the WTO Doha negotiations a nd in shaping the multilateral trading system in 
general to the benefit of a sustainable economic development. Behind this background, we would like 
to take this opportunity to tha nk India for its initiatives aiming to in crease the efficiency of the WTO 
system, such as the one presented at the last Ministerial Conference in 2009. 
KOREA, REPUBLIC OF 
117. As previous speakers mentioned, India's im pressive economic performance during the period 
under review as well as the previous review periods  is commendable. India has registered over 8.4% 
average annual real GDP growth since 2006 in sp ite of the severe difficulties caused by the global 
financial and economic cris is.  We hope, as recommended in the Secretariat Report, that India sustains 
its rapid economic growth by pursuing further re forms, effectively addressing the challenges of 
improving infrastructure, and simplifying the business and regulatory environment. 
118. Over the years, India and Korea have devel oped stable and fruitful economic relations. The 
bilateral trade volume was less than US$1 billion in 1991 but it surged to over US$17 billion in 2010. 
Korea's direct investment to India has increased  from mere US$4 million then to US$3 billion today. 
This figure does not include US$12 billion steel mill project by POSCO in the state of Orissa. When the project is completed as planned, it will be the single largest FDI ever made in India. 
119. The opportunity for a quantum leap in our bila teral economic relationship has recently come 
with the entry into force of th e Comprehensive Economic Partnershi p Agreement or CEPA in January 
2010. The CEPA, which covers not only trade in goods and services but also investment and economic cooperation, has helped to release the prev iously untapped potential for expanding bilateral 
economic cooperation. Thanks largel y to the Agreement, our trade volume last year increased 41% 
from the previous year and is expected to reach US $21 billion by the end of this year. There is no 
doubt that the CEPA will serve as a robust corner stone on which India and Korea can deepen their 
long-term economic partnership in this century and beyond. 
120. Having said that, let me now turn to some areas of our particular interest and concern with 
respect to India's economic and trade policies and me asures.  First, I would like to bring to India's  WT/TPR/M/249 
 Page 21 
 
 
  attention the lingering concerns over its comple x tariff system. Indeed, we welcome the overall 
downward trend in tariff rates over the years highlighted in the Secretariat Report. Despite this continued decline of simple average MFN rate, howev er, effective tariff rates seem to remain high due 
to the imposition of various additional and special duties and charges.  
121. In particular, we would like to note that fore ign businessmen in India have been pointing out 
the special additional customs duty (SAD) imposed on imported goods as unfairly burdensome. They 
have also been asking for the simplification of, and more transparency in, the procedures for the 
refund of the duty. 
122. Furthermore, numerous tariff exemptions announc ed throughout the year seem to make the 
tariff structure even more complicated for trader s. Thus, we would like to encourage the Indian 
government to reform its complex tariff system in such a way that will further enhance the 
predictability of its trade regime and promote trade. 
123. Second, we appreciate that India has impl emented reform measures to rationalize and 
simplify its tax system over the past few years. At the same time, however, we share the concern that foreign companies investing in India are still faci ng uncertainty resulting from the tax burden caused 
by relatively high tax rates, complex tax structure, and discretionary tax administration. In this regard, 
we would like to see the Indian government taking further measures designed to address this concern 
and enhance the transparency of its tax sy stem in an appropriate and timely manner. 
124. Third, taking due note that India continues to  be a major user of antidumping measures, we 
are concerned over Korea being among its main target s.  Given the additional burdens to exporters 
posed even by the mere initiation of an investigat ion, it is highly recommendable for the Indian 
government to take a more prudent approach when initiating anti-dumping investigations so that such 
measures would not constitute a systemic trade barrier. 
125. Fourth, we also share the concern that various  technical regulations and standards of India 
may act as non-tariff barriers. We would particularly li ke to draw the Indian government's attention to 
the fact that the mandatory certification schemes  recently introduced by the Bureau of Indian 
Standards (BIS) do not provide sufficient grace peri od for foreign producers to meet the requirements 
in those schemes, thereby unduly restricting the importation of the products concerned. 
126. As India's economic performance since the early 1990's clearly demonstrates, trade 
liberalization has been highly beneficial for India's economy. In this context, it is only natural that 
India has become a key player in the multilateral trading system and the DDA negotiations and has a 
greater stake in the successful conclusion of th e round. We look forward to India's continued 
contribution to and strong leadership in helping advance the DDA negotiations and further strengthen 
the multilateral trading system. 
MALAYSIA ON BEHALF OF ASEAN 
127. India is one of ASEAN's most important tradi ng and investment partners.  In 2009, total 
ASEAN-India trade amounted to more than US$39 billion, and FDI from India into ASEAN stood at 
US$970 million.  The ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement came into force last year, and 
ASEAN looks forward to a successful conclusion of the Services and Investment agreements.  We 
also hope to achieve the commitment made by the Leaders of ASEAN and India of reaching a trade 
target of US$70 billion by 2012. 
128. ASEAN notes that India's implementation of pro-trade measures these past years has helped 
the continued growth and resilie nce of India's economy even duri ng the global financial crisis.  
ASEAN appreciates India's efforts to ensure out ward-oriented policies that encourage trade and WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 22  
 
  investment, and contribute to strong ASEAN-Indi a economic ties.  ASEAN believes that there is 
room for further enhancement to India's trade pol icies in the interests of  further deepening our 
economic relations. 
129. One area where ASEAN traders have faced obstacles is India's complicated import regime.  
We recognize that India has been streamlining cust oms procedures since its last TPR.  However, our 
exporters are still experiencing difficulties, in pa rticular, with India's complex licensing and permit 
system.  We encourage India to continue e fforts in facilitating trade in this regard. 
130. India's simple average MFN tariff rate has al so decreased from 15.1% in 2007 to 12% in 
2010.  We welcome India's lower tariffs in both ag ricultural and industrial products.  However, we 
ask India to consider further liberalization of agri cultural products, in partic ular, pepper, palm oil, 
cloves, garlic and meat products. 
131. Finally, ASEAN also encourages India to ex ercise maximum restraint in initiating anti-
dumping and safeguard investigations, and in imposing such measures.  
MALAYSIA 
 
132. Malaysia has always maintained good economic and trade relations with India where since 
1998, India has been Malaysia's largest trading partne r, export destination and source of imports in the 
South Asian region.  From 2001-2010, bilateral tr ade between Malaysia and India is on an upward 
trend where trade between both countries has increa sed more than four-folds. Total trade between 
Malaysia and India for 2010 was US$8.98 billion, an increase of 21.4% compared with US$7.06 
billion in 2009.  
133. On the investment front, Malaysian companies ha ve been actively investing in India with a 
cumulative investment of US$3.1 billion while cro ss-border investment of Malaysian investment in 
India amounted US$64.9 million.  Major areas of investments include construction, financing, insurance real estate and business services. Likewi se, Indian companies are active investors in 
Malaysia too where a total of 106 manufacturing proj ects with Indian participation were implemented 
with a total investment of US$1.13 b illion creating approximately 14,000 jobs. 
134. A significant milestone in our trade relations  was achieved when on 18 February 2011, 
Malaysia and India signed the Malaysia Indi a Comprehensive Economic  Cooperation Agreement 
(MICECA) which came into force on 1 July 2011. Under the Agreement, Malaysia and India will 
progressively reduce or eliminate tariffs on a broad range of agriculture and industrial goods, further 
liberalise their investment and services sectors a nd  promote economic cooperation in a number of 
areas such as infrastructure development, tourism,  SMEs, science technology; finance and business 
facilitation. 
135. On specific aspects of India's trade policies and practices, we would like to congratulate India 
on the stellar performance of their economy, where India had charted an annual real GDP growth of 
8.4% between 2006/07 and 2010/11.  This is indeed  credible considering the slowdown caused by the 
global financial crisis in 2008/20 09 which had adversely impacted other countries in the region.  
136. It is also heartening to note India's shift towards lower tariffs, where the Secretariat had 
reported that the simple average MFN tariff rate declined to 12% in 2010/11, from 15.1% in 2006/07. 
India has also taken efforts to streamline cu stoms procedures and implement trade facilitation 
measures, including the introduction of an elect ronic system for cust oms clearance and the 
implementation of a risk management system. This will indeed greatly benefit India's trade partners 
and we look forward to a more seamless, smooth a nd hassle free movement of goods across borders.    WT/TPR/M/249 
 Page 23 
 
 
  137. Further, since its last Review, India has taken several initiatives to modernize its IPR 
administration and continue its efforts to enforce IPRs. Several amendments to its competition policy 
legislation have also been made, and some aspects of the law affecting mergers and acquisitions also 
recently entered into force. We commend India on th e efforts that it has taken to improve its trade 
policy regime since the last Review. 
138. Although significant strides have been made in improving their trade practices and regimes, 
there are areas the Administration may need to address and further improve. Firstly, as noted in the Secretariat Report, India's import regime remains complex, in particular its licensing and permit 
system and its tariff structure, which have multip le exemptions, with rates varying according to 
product, user or specific export promotion progra mme. We seek clarification from India on efforts 
that the Administration would undertake to streamline and address these complexities.  
139. Secondly, we are also concerned on the local manufacturing and content requirements 
imposed by the Indian Ministry of New & Rene wable Energy under the Jawaharlal Nehru National 
Solar Mission, where there is a mandatory requireme nt for Project developers to ensure 30% local 
content in all plants/installations under solar ther mal technology. Additionally, projects based on 
crystalline silicon technology in Solar PV Project s are also required to use cells and modules 
manufactured in India. Malaysia would appreciate if India could reconsider the imposition of these 
requirements, as it would unfairly disadvantage foreign investors.  
COLOMBIA 
140. We should like to highlight three facts in the Secretariat report for the period under review.  
Firstly, the Indian economy's continued high rate  of growth despite global economic problems, 
especially the growth in GDP at an average of 8.4%  annually, as well as trade in goods, which grew at 
18.9%, showing that India's policies have provi ded an appropriate response to the crisis. 
141. Secondly, the impressive recent economic grow th in the services sector and in domestic 
demand over the past two years.  The performance  in the services sector has been particularly 
important in mitigating the impact of the global cris is on India's economy.  It should be recalled that 
this sector's share of GDP rose from 53 to 56% over the period. 
142. Thirdly, the reduced share of the agricultural sector, which fell from 18.1% to 16.6%, and this 
is important bearing in mind that the jobs genera ted in this sector account for some 52% of total 
employment.  This raises several challenges.  On  the one hand, improving th e economic situation of 
agricultural workers, which in turn helps to boos t and maintain the dynamism of domestic demand 
and, on the other, ensuring a satisfactory increase in the terms of supply, avoiding inflationary 
pressures. 
143. In the light of the foregoing, for India the cha llenge does not appear to be how to maintain 
high rates of growth but rather how to distribute the benefits created by such growth.  This is despite 
the considerable progress made in reduci ng poverty and raisi ng living standards. 
144. The important role assigned by India to foreign investment and trade liberalization within its 
economic growth and employment ge neration strategy needs to be underlined.  The aim of this 
strategy is to achieve exports amounting to US $500 billion in 2014, based on factors such as 
improving the quality of products, diversifying mark ets, developing new products and export sectors, 
and achieving greater value added, factors which can also be found in Colombia's own economic 
growth strategy. 
145. With regard to trade liberalization, we note from the Secretariat report the significant progress 
made, even though there is still room for improveme nt.  Firstly, as regards tariffs, there has been WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 24  
 
  a substantial reduction in the average tariff over the review period, but the tariff structure is difficult 
to understand because of the various duties imposed  and the exemptions.  The protection given to 
agricultural products is much higher than that for indu strial products and very hi gh tariffs still apply to 
some products. 
146. Secondly, there have been notable delays in  notifications in the agricultural sector.  
The notifications mechanism gives Member countries a tool to enhance transparency inasmuch as it 
provides information on the programmes and measures applied by Members and compliance with the commitments undertaken. 
147. Thirdly, progress has been made in implemen ting paperless customs procedures, which has 
meant a sizeable reduction in the time taken to comple te import procedures.  Despite this, there is still 
room for further progress in simplifying licensing and permit procedures. 
148. As regards bilateral trading relations with Colo mbia, there has been an upward trend in recent 
years.  Bilateral trade rose from US$409 million in  2006 to US$1.051 billion in 2010, in other words, 
over the past four years it almost tripled, and this tr end is continuing in the current year:  for the first 
six months, global trade exceeded US$700 million.  Ther e is still room for diversification of products 
within this trade, however, especially exports fro m Colombia, which are mostly petroleum and coal. 
149. The promotion of reciprocal investment coul d also be improved.  Between 2002 and 2011, 
India's cumulative investment in Colombia only amounted to US$2.8 million, going mainly to the mining, trade and real estate sectors.  In tourism, th e flow of visitors has increased, from 1,549 Indian 
visitors to Colombia in 2005 to 3,291 in 2010. 
150. Lastly, the words of Nehru should be recalled as they are highly relevant to the current 
juncture in the global economy and to the challeng es we jointly face:  "Crises and deadlocks … have 
at least this advantage, that they force us to th ink."  Challenges such as that faced by India's economy 
in achieving a balance between th e needs of producers and consumer s, the difficult global economic 
situation and the crisis in the Doha Round negotiatio ns need to be resolved through creative thinking, 
using ingenuity and solutions that involve an open mind-set, which India has abundantly 
demonstrated in the past. 
PAKISTAN 
151. Although India's GDP at factor cost suffered a mild slowdown in 2008-09 due to the global 
economic crisis, the Indian economy is back on a hi gh growth path, aiming for GDP growth rate of 
9%.  India has set a target to achieve merchandi se exports of 500 billion by 2013-14. This is an 
ambitious target and naturally would require more  imports which may result in negative balance of 
trade to increase from 7% to 10%. I am sure that India will manage all the difficulties to keep the 
current account deficit within reasonable limits and achieve the targets as well. 
152. The growth of Indian economy in the last two decades was mainly due to uninterrupted 
economic reforms, trade liberalization and trade f acilitation initiatives. These  measures were focused 
mainly for exports of merchandise and services. The import regime is still complex. To determine the 
applicable applied tariff exporters to India must  cross-reference separate customs and excise tax 
schedules and applicable customs and excise notifications, which imposes significant burden on the traders. Besides, state government s may have separate levies and rules on goods imported into India. 
Applied tariffs on agriculture produc ts make the exports to India unviable in many cases. In order to 
achieve target of 500 billion of exports, a simplif ied import regime would perhaps be in India's own 
interest.  WT/TPR/M/249 
 Page 25 
 
 
  153. India and Pakistan were the major trading part ners in the initial years of independence. In 
subsequent periods the bilateral trade started dec lining and in the beginning of this millennium the 
bilateral trade was only US$285 million. In the next  ten years we witnessed over 500% increase in the 
bilateral trade which was US$1.5 billion in 2009-10 . This level is still much below our potential. 
Presently, however, the trade balance is heavily in In dia's favour as the exports from India to Pakistan 
are around 1 billion dollars. An important factor in in crease in bilateral trade is South Asia Free Trade 
Area Agreement (SAFTA Agreement) which was si gned in January 2004 at Islamabad. Along with 
other SAARC countries we have also signed an agre ement on Trade in Services in February 2010 and 
are engaged in developing schedules of specific commitments. 
154. India is a major player in the multilateral negotia tions and has taken many initiatives to bridge 
the gaps especially since July 2010. The Ambass adors small group process was designed for informal 
discussion which was cosponsored by India and the EU . It was for the first time that all areas of the 
Doha mandate were focused. This endeavour led to the intensive phase of negotiations in the 
beginning of this year and resulted in preparati on of the documents in all areas of Doha Agenda, 
delivered before Easter. Although, the differences re main in certain areas and we may not achieve the 
conclusion of the Round by the end of this year, India is expected to provide leadership to work out a 
plan of action for and after the 8th Ministerial. Pakistan and India have also cosponsored some 
important proposals in many areas of negotiations. We will continue our close cooperation at the 
bilateral and multilateral levels. 
SRI LANKA 
155. Indo-Sri Lanka historical relations could be tr aced back to many centuries as elaborated in 
sources such as Ramayanaya written around 500 BC and Mahawansa (Dynasty) in 6th century.  It 
reveals history similarly to a modern day fairy ta le, how Prince Vijaya arrived in Sri Lanka and his 
decedents settled thereafter.  Today, Sri Lanka is  a predominantly a Buddhist country with three 
quarter of the population being Buddhist.  According to the traditional Sri Lankan chronicles (such as 
the Dipavamsa) Buddhist was introduced to Sr i Lanka in the second century BC by Venerable 
Mahinda, the son of the Emperor Ashoka and with the support of the ruling King of Sri Lanka, it 
spreaded fast in my country. 
156. With regard to the economic relations of Indo-Sri Lanka our trade relations, though not 
formal, started well before the colonial era with tr ading spices.  India continues to remain of Sri 
Lanka's main trading partners.  The pinnacle of the recent trade development achievement could be 
identified as the Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreemen t which became operationalized in 2000.  Even 
since the value of Indo Sri Lanka trade has increased by many folds.  The FTA, being the first such 
experience have been referred as a model in th e South Asian region for both nations and have 
contributed towards further intensify the historical linkage between the two countries. 
157. The two way trade between the countries incre ased in an exponential manner during the last 
decade to reach staggering total of US$3 billio n in 2010.  Sri Lanka's exports increased from 
US$56 million in 2000 to US$467 million by 2010 reco rding a 734% growth, while India's exports 
grew by 324% from US$600 million to US$2,546 m illion during the same period.  However, the 
balance of trade, which is in favour of  India, exceeded US$2 billion in 2010. 
158. Today India has emerged as the 3rd largest buyer of Sri Lanka.  It is important to note that Sri 
Lanka's exports growth has largely been driven under the ISFTA with ability to export more than 
4,000 product lines to the Indian market on duty free b asis.  A number of export products interested to 
Sri Lankan economy have increased during the pe riod under review.  India is the largest goods 
supplier of Sri Lanka and imports include a number of petroleum products, automobiles, and motorcycles. WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 26  
 
  159. On the investment front, the FTA has also paved the way for a significant level of investment 
inflows into both countries.  India has emerged as  one of the prominent FDI sources of Sri Lanka over 
the last ten years.  Among many Indian corporations  which have invested in Sri Lanka, to name a few 
Taj, TATA, CEAT, IOC, Airtel, Ultratech.  On  the other hand, a number of major Sri Lankan 
companies such as Brandix, MAS Holdings, Damro, and Dankotuwa have established close 
commercial contacts with India either through trade or investments. 
160. We are very pleased with this developmen t and we are moving ahead with a more 
comprehensive trading arrangement (CEPA), where in  addition to merchandise  trade, will now cover 
trade in services, promotion of investment and ec onomic cooperation.  Sri Lanka and India are also 
members of regional agreements such as BIMSTEC, SAFT and APTA.  It is expected that economic 
opportunities will be further boosted with the resu mption of the Colombo-Thutikodi ferry service. 
161. In the tourism front, Sri Lanka and India have  a healthy level of tourist traffic. The 
performance of the Indian economy is of greater importance to Sri Lanka.  My delegation commends 
the 8-9% economic growth India has achieved and main tained during the global economic crisis.  It is 
understood that the resilience of the Indian economy  and its ability to cope with global downturn was 
the result of a range of reforms specially associated with the financial sector.  Further, it is mentioned 
in paragraph 7 of the same Report that proactive and timely policy support by the Government of 
India had lead to a speedy recovery. 
162. In this regard, my delegation would like to learn more details on the cautious approach 
towards the liberalization of capital flows, short term debt and building up of foreign exchange 
reserves as stated in paragraph 2 of the Governme nt Report, had in turn minimized the effects. 
163. We recognize that India faces many challeng es in areas such as infrastructure development, 
food security, management of inflation, etc.  As solutions, Government's significant attention on the 
rural sector development, skill de velopment, innovation and financial inclusion is important.  Similar 
to my country it is observed the need for India to diversify its exports and markets since directional 
pattern of India's trade have not substantively changed compared to the previous TPR.  We too 
acknowledge the strong macroeconomics fundamentals a nd a liberal foreign investment regime put in 
place by India and the calibrated relaxation of the fo reign exchange regime wh ich have motivated the 
outbound investors.  My delegation also welcomes the initiative taken by the Government of India to 
liberalize tariffs to maintain a moderate and si mplified structure.  Sri Lanka recognizes India's 
commitment to continuing along the path of reform , openness and greater integration with the global 
economy. 
164. While applauding the contributions made by India at the ongoing WTO Doha Round 
negotiations, Sri Lanka strongly shares India's visi on for an open, equitable, predictable, non-
discriminatory and rule-based multilateral regime which would serve the needs of developing 
countries. 
AUSTRALIA 
165. Australia and India have an increasingly close relationship at all levels, including our trade 
and economic links. In 2010, India was Australia's si xth largest trading partner and fourth largest 
export market, while total two-way trade exceeded A$22 billion in 2010. This trade is expected to 
double within the next five years. In May 2011, Australia and India launched negotiations into a 
Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement. Australia is committed to negotiating a high-
quality, truly liberalising agreement covering inv estment and trade in goods and services as well as 
other issues that will facilitate trade and further strengthen our economic relations. Australia also 
continues to work closely with India in a range of  international groupings, including the G20, the East  WT/TPR/M/249 
 Page 27 
 
 
  Asia Summit, and of course the WTO where we have  a shared interest in a strong and effective 
multilateral trading system, including through  our close cooperation on the Doha Round.  
166. Energy and resources form the backbone of Austra lia's trading relationship with India. More 
than 80% of our goods exports to India consist of just three commodities – coal, gold and copper ore. 
Although we expect the trade profile to broaden as bilateral economic integration continues, it is 
reasonable to assume energy and resources will remain important for many years. Australian 
companies are also increasingly active in mining ser vices. We look forward to the tabling and passage 
by the Indian Parliament of the revised Mines a nd Minerals (Development a nd Regulation) Act, as 
well as the recently introduced Land Acquisition, Reha bilitation and Resettlement Act, to give further 
certainty to Australian capital in the Indian mining sector. 
167. Trade in services between our two countries is  also growing strongly, with Australia's 
services exports to India reaching A$3.2 billion in 20 10 of which education-related travel accounted 
for $2.7 billion. India's export of services to Australi a was valued at A$660 million in 2010. As India 
looks to provide vocational training to 500 million of its citizens by 2022, Australian education 
providers stand ready to develop and deliver relevant  course content, both in Australia and in India. 
We look forward to the tabling and passage of the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of 
Entry and Operations) Act by the Indian Parliame nt in this regard. Also we look forward to 
finalization of guidelines delineating the Roadmap fo r Presence of Foreign Banks in India and the 
commencement of the roadmap's second phase, and progress in raising the limit on foreign equity 
participation in the Indian insurance sector.  
168. India's further liberalisation of the framework fo r foreign direct investment is particularly 
welcome, although we note there are still several secto rs where such investment  is either prohibited, 
limited or subject to specific caps and conditions. We  hope that India's consolidated FDI policy will 
lead to greater stability and predictability for fore ign investors, which are essential to attracting the 
foreign investment that could underpin critical infra structure projects and continued growth in other 
sectors such as financial and telecommunications services. 
169. In the agricultural sector, Australia provides hi gh quality food exports to India, including 
chickpeas and more recently, dairy products. Australia has committed $22 million through the 
Australian Centre for International Agricultural R esearch for joint agricultural research and projects. 
We also recognise the economic and social importan ce of the Indian agricultural sector, although in 
this regard note that some of India's agricultural po licies appear to be directly at odds with India's 
goal, as set out in its 11th Five Year Plan, to place special emphasis on promoting production and 
exports of commercial crops and agri-based processe d products. We have al so questioned how export 
prohibitions and restrictions on certain agricultural products are compatible with India's obligations 
under Article 12.2 of the Agreement on Agriculture. We welcome India's addi tional export subsidies 
notification in 2011, and urge India to notify the e xport subsidies it has provided since marketing year 
2003-04.  
170. We also welcome India's unilatera l reduction in average applied tariffs in both the agricultural 
and manufacturing sectors in recent years, although we note the significant gap between average bound and applied tariffs that still re mains. We would urge India to c ontinue the trend towards tariff 
liberalisation in all sectors. 
171. In conclusion, Australia notes the impressive economic growth India has achieved since the 
reforms of the early 1990s, which have helped lift millions out of poverty. Australia encourages India 
to continue with down this process of reform.  WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 28  
 
  SINGAPORE 
172. India is Singapore's 11
th largest trading partner. Our bilateral trade last year, at over 
US$24 billion, exceeded the pre-crisis high of 2008.  Singapore is home to more than 5,000 Indian 
companies, and mutual FDI continues to grow at a healthy rate.  India is one of our priority tourism markets and we have several collaborations. The Si ngapore Tourism Board, for instance, promotes 
Singapore and India as twin destinations to third co untries. Both India and Singapore share the belief 
that greater cultural exchanges promote market fami liarisation and raise the mindshare of our people. 
173. Underpinning our strong economic ties are our  trade agreements. The 2005 India-Singapore 
Comprehensive Economic Cooperati on Agreement (CECA) has been an important catalyst in 
boosting bilateral trade and investment. To ensure  the agreement stays current, India and Singapore 
work closely on reviewing the CECA – the first re view was in 2007 and the second review is ongoing 
and expected to be completed by the end of this year. Complementing this is our regional agreement, 
the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement, which comb ines a market of 1.8 billion people, with a GDP 
of almost US$3 trillion
.  
174. We are encouraged by the steps India has taken to further amplify its attractiveness as a trade 
and investment partner. India has made efforts to reduce tariffs over the past years, which has 
benefited traders.  We also note the significant ch anges made recently in India's FDI policy regime - 
opening up more sectors for foreign investment and the establishment of a one-stop investment 
promotion agency. We look forward to a successful implementation of the new Direct Tax Code (DTC) and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), as a si mplified taxation system would provide greater 
predictability to businesses.  
175. In our view, the following areas of India's trade policies and practices that would benefit from 
continued improvement.  There is still a troubli ngly high number of anti-dumping and safeguard 
investigations being taken up by the Indian g overnment. As a key manuf acturer and exporter, 
Singapore is concerned about the high concentration of antidumping measures in the chemicals sector. Trade remedies are legitimate policy tools to c ounter unfair trade, but can unwittingly become 
protectionist tools.  We hope to see more  discerning use of trade remedies by India. 
176. India still imposes several burdensome customs m easures. The importance and benefits of a 
smooth flow of goods at and beyond the border speaks for itself in today's trading environment, and 
we ask India to advance the elimination of cumbersome procedures and the implementation of trade facilitation measures.  
177. There are also still numerous barriers to trade in services, which is clearly an important sector 
for India.  It accounts for more than half of India' s GDP, and is a key contributor to India's economic 
growth. India's economy would benefit overall from th e removal of barriers, especially in sectors like 
maritime transport, telecommunications, and professi onal services. We want to work with India to 
make India the "best bet" within the region for Si ngapore companies looking to trade and invest.  
178. Air services are a specific sector which India should consider liberalising. A recent report by 
the International Air Transport Association (IA TA) assessed that the removal of market access 
restrictions here could bring an increase of up to 12 million internationa l passengers to and from 
India. This means a 42% growth in international tr affic volumes (based on 2007 traffic data).  And an 
overall projected boost in India's GDP by almost US$6 billion from air services liberalisation.  
179. Finally, we also look forward to India eventu ally becoming a signatory to the GPA, following 
the encouraging move to be an Ob server to the agreement last year.  WT/TPR/M/249 
 Page 29 
 
 
  180. India is an important economic and trading pa rtner to Singapore and many others in this 
room. We hope to conclude our CECA review by the end of this year with a progressive outcome. 
This would further cement our bilateral ties wh en Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Singapore 
this November. We also recognise the key role India plays within the work of the WTO, and tribute must be paid to Ambassador Jayant Dasgupta and his team.  We look forward to continued close 
cooperation in our shared commitment to strengt hen the institution and the multilateral trading 
system.  
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA 
181. We have found the Reports, both by the Secret ariat and the Government of India, not only 
informative and illuminating but also encouraging.   They document the remarkable progress of the 
Indian economy over the past four years in terms of GDP growth and trade expansion, progress which 
has been sustained even in the f ace of the world economic crisis.  There is a great deal here on which 
India is to be congratulated and from which other developing countries in the process of 
industrialization can take heart.  We note in partic ular the Government's objective of doubling India's 
share of world merchandise trade over the next five years and the important role of trade expansion in 
promoting employment.  Open trade is clearly vital for India as it continues its development and 
growth. 
182. However, there are some aspects of the Revi ew which causes us concern, which we believe 
will be shared by other Members.  According to th e Secretariat's Report, India is "one of the most 
active users of anti-dumping measures among WTO Members".  It is worth highlighting briefly some of the key factual findings from the Secretariat's Report about India's recourse to anti-dumping 
measures:  from the inception of the WTO until mid-2010, India accounted for 436 of the 2,433 
anti-dumping measures adopted by Members, or nearly 18% of the total for all WTO Members worldwide;  between 2006 and 2010, India initiate d 209 anti-dumping investigations against 34 
trading partners, which is an increase from the 176 reported in its last TPR.  The products involved 
included such key goods as chemicals, plastics and me tals;  and the average length of an anti-dumping 
measure applied by India was 56.7 months.  For at least five years 81 measures had been in place, 
while 18 duties had been in place for over 10 years.   Statistics such as these indicate that such 
measures can significantly hinder trade.   
183. Moreover, these are worrying trends.  Anti-dumpi ng duties are of course a legitimate response 
to unfair trade, but there is a danger that anti-dumpi ng actions can be used for protectionist ends when 
domestic industries face fair, competitive pressure.  It is important for all of us that the most 
scrupulous regard be paid to the disciplines surr ounding the use of anti-dumping duties, and India, 
with its high ambitions as an exporter to world market s, has as large a stake in this as any Member.  In 
order to ensure that anti-dumping measures do not restri ct fair trade, it is particularly important that 
India redouble its commitment to adhere to the basi c anti-dumping rules and methodologies that limit 
the application of anti-dumping measures to protecti on against unfair trade, so as not to distort the 
competitive opportunities that should benefit all partic ipants in our international trading system.  
Saudi Arabia trusts that India will always be f ound among those who insist on absolute respect for 
WTO rules in the use of trade remedies. 
184. I would emphasize the Kingdom's concern and di sappointment about the scale and nature of 
India's use of anti-dumping measures and the impact this has on the rules-based trading system.   We 
would also insist that India, like all WTO Members, comply strictly with its obligations under the 
Anti-Dumping Agreement.   WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 30  
 
  HONG KONG, CHINA 
185. I will try to be succinct, in line with Members'  emerging consensus to make the best use of 
our limited time in such meetings.  To this end, I will not give a detailed elaboration of our thriving 
bilateral trade relationship with Indi a, which happens to be our seventh largest trading partner; but this 
should not mask our intent to st rengthen our economic and investment ties significantly further in the 
years ahead.     
186. Let me come straight to the point on a number of aspects of India's trade policy, from a 
systemic point of view.  On tariffs, we note that India has bound about three quarters of its tariff lines, and its average applied rate for NAMA products has been reduced to  below 9%.  These liberalization 
measures contrast, however, with 12% of its lines s till being subject to peaks of over 15%, as well as 
tariff rates of more than 600% that are applicable to certain textile and clot hing products.  In addition, 
we would ask India to review and simplify its tari ff regime, in particular those aspects relating to 
additional countervailing duties and customs and exci se duties, which can be  quite confusing to 
importers. 
187. India's average applied tariff rate for agricultura l products is far higher than for manufactured 
goods.  There is also a wide spread between boun d and applied tariff rate s for many agricultural 
products, and this allows India to modify its tari ffs substantially while re maining within its WTO 
commitments.  As the Secretariat reports, frequently  modified tariffs on food staples, and the complex 
process of notifying such changes, have created uncer tainty and become impediments to trade.  While 
we appreciate India's concerns to protect this sect or, we would encourage it, as a key player in the 
WTO, to step up efforts to liberalize its agricultural sector and so provide more certainty to its trading 
partners. 
188. The services sector is the largest contributor to India's GDP, and the main driver of economic 
growth.  India is a net exporter of services a nd it should continue to benefit from continued 
liberalization of this trade.  The development of fi nancial services is of particular interest in this 
respect.  However, despite a great potential for gr owth, banking services in India continue to be 
dominated by the public sector.  We hope to see great er participation of both domestic and foreign 
service suppliers in commercial banking services, as this would be conducive to healthy and 
sustainable growth.  Furthermore, India has yet to enact the regulatory changes and legislative 
amendments that it introduced some years ago in order to improve oversight of financial services.  
Maintaining a sound regulatory framework is essential  for an economy in pursuit of financial services 
liberalization.  We would urge India to continue to build up its capability in this respect. 
189. As the Secretariat reports, private sector investment, including that from foreign sources, will 
be crucial for India's overall future  development.  Nevertheless, during the review period, India has 
increased the number of sectors, including but not limited to services, in which foreign direct 
investment is prohibited.  This is rather a worrying  trend.  In some cases, even where foreign direct 
investment up to 100% is allowed, the requireme nts for fulfilling specific conditions or obtaining 
permits have turned out to be more restrictive th an an explicit investment cap.  We would therefore 
encourage India to consider further liberalizing its re gime for foreign investment in trade in services, 
by reviewing whether some restrictive market-a ccess conditions can be lifted, and increasing or 
entirely removing the ownership caps on foreign investment.   
190. That said, we appreciate India's active particip ation in the services negotiations, especially the 
constructive role it has played in the negotiation of horizontal disciplines in domestic regulation.  We 
both believe in the principle that domestic rule s and regulations should not unnecessarily restrict 
market access.  We look forward to continued clo se cooperation with India in pursuit of this objective.  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  191. On trade facilitation, we commend India's e fforts and initiatives to streamline customs 
procedures.  India has also set up a Task Force to iden tify elements of transaction costs, with a view to 
reducing both these and the time taken for foreign trade transactions.  These have resulted in more 
efficient customs clearance.  We would encourage India to continue its good work in this respect. 
192. On contingency measures, however, we note that India is one of the most active users of anti-
dumping measures and there has also been a noticeable increase in the number of anti-dumping 
actions it has taken during the re view period.  Unjustified anti- dumping actions can have a major 
negative impact on the exporting economy in question.   We would therefore urge India to exercise 
prudence in contemplating any anti-dumping measur es and be rigorous in their determination, to 
ensure that they are fully justified and not liabl e to be abused for protectionist purposes.   
193. Last but not least, as we all know, the delegation of  India, led here in Geneva by Ambassador 
Jayant Dasgupta, plays a very active part in the DDA negotiations.  It also participates diligently and 
constructively in the ordinary business of the Genera l Council and its various s ubsidiary bodies.  As 
always, we appreciate its substantive contributions  to many areas of our collective work in this 
Organization.  And we look forward to continuing to  work closely with the delegation of India, both 
in charting a way forward for the Doha Round and in  improving the multilateral trading system in the 
years to come.   
INDONESIA 
194. Indonesia and India have long maintained str ong and friendly bilateral relations. During the 
visit of the Indonesian President to India on 25 January 2011, both countries agreed to start talks on an Indonesian-Indian Comprehensive Economic Coopera tion Agreement (II-CECA), which is expected 
to top up the existing ASEAN-India FTA. The vis it also witnessed the signing of business deals worth 
US$15 billion between the two partners. Among the join t statements issued during the visit, the two 
countries agreed, inter alia , to the establishment of the Eminent Persons' Group, to a Biennial Trade 
Minister's Forum and a Biennial Defence Forum, as  well as to the establishment of an Energy Forum. 
195. The overall trade between Indonesia and India in the last five years (2006-10) has shown an 
average growth rate of 27.3% per annum, with  the total value of trade in 2009 reaching 
US$9.6 billion. In 2010, this figure rose further to  US$13.2 billion, an increase of 37.5% compared to 
the whole of 2009. And in the period January-May 2011, Indonesia's total trade with India increased by an impressive 48.6% or US$7 billion, compared to the same period in 2010, when it amounted to 
US$4.7 billion. 
196. Given our strong trade relationship and incr easing interdependence, Indonesia attaches  great 
importance to the India`s commitment and efforts in  maintaining an open trading system and an open 
market. To this extent, Indonesia believes that India would not set stringent entry criteria through the TBT, SPS and other measures, and especially discriminates products from developing economies.  In particular, we have concerns on the following aspects:  
197. Indonesia would like to request India to ela borate further the BIS Laboratory Recognition 
Scheme, considering that the Indonesian laboratories t esting result had apparently  been rejected by the 
Indian authorities. In response to this problem, we would recommend if India could accept the Asia 
Pacific Laboratory Accreditation (APLAC) or the International Laboratory Accreditation (ILAC) - 
Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) scheme. 
198. On the issue of labelling requirements, they are applied in uniform across all states and for all 
foreign suppliers. Labels must be in Hindi (Devnagi ri script) and in English, they must be written in 
the language of the locality where the products is u ltimately sold. We are of the view that this may 
lead to an increase in distribution cost since there are 16 official languages in India where food WT/TPR/M/249 
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  processing companies often do not know which pallet of food products will be transported to a 
specific State. We kindly request India to ensure  that such labelling requirements may not create 
barriers to trade, particularly to those foreign suppliers. 
199. As noted in the Secretariat Report, the central government of India allocates funds to 
subsidize interest rates, including to exporters managed by Ministry of Finance, and of Heavy 
Industries and Public Enterprises. Preferential inter est rates to exporters, was given to many sectors 
during 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2011. In this regard, we kindly request India to ensure that the allocated funds to subsidize interest rate to Indi an exporters are still in accordance with WTO Rules. 
200. On the issue of tariff, the Indonesian exporters  are still experiencing problems to export paper 
products due to high tariff imposed by India. In this regard, we would like to seek further clarification 
whether India will introduce any schemes or programs to reduce its high tariff?   
201. As stated in the Secretariat Report, the Indian government briefly imposed restrictions on 
cotton yarn exports between December 2010 and March 2011. This  export policy was potentially 
damaging to the textile sector in Indonesia, which relies on cotton yarn as a raw material for its textile 
industry. As the Secretariat Report also menti ons, India is one of the most active users of 
anti-dumping measures among WTO Members. We ther efore hope that India will consider these 
measures in the light of the basic WTO rules and principles. 
202. The Doha Round of negotiations offers an opport unity to increase economic prosperity for all 
WTO Members by enhancing predictability in  the multilateral trading system through the 
strengthening of international rules. We have no do ubt that India's strong support of this view will 
guide its commitment to the successful conclusi on of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) 
negotiations. 
COSTA RICA 
203. Costa Rica notes with satisfaction the statements in India's report in favour of an open, 
equitable, predictable, non-discriminatory and rul es-based multilateral trading system, together with 
its support for these goals and principles.  We believe that India's confirmation of these is essential for 
the proper functioning of trade.  India is one of  the largest economies, with a young population with 
increasingly higher levels of education, a dynamic economy that has grown rapidly despite the global 
economic crisis and very encouraging prospects for the future. 
204. Trade between Costa Rica and India is modest .  In 2010, India only accounted for 0.2% of 
Costa Rica's exports while 0.8% of its imports came from India.  These levels of trade are much lower 
than those of Costa Rica with other trading partne rs in Asia, and Asia as a whole accounts for 14% of 
Costa Rica's exports and 16% of its imports.  We should like to see a larger volume of trade with 
India as well in the future.  In 2010, it increased by 76% and we believe that th is is an indicator of 
increased trade in the future. 
205. The Secretariat report highlights some aspects that we believe are important to underline, 
such as the efforts made by India to streamline customs procedures and implement trade facilitation 
measures, for example, the creation of an electroni c customs clearance and risk management system.  
We find these aspects to be very positive.  Anot her positive aspect is the reduction in the average 
tariff applied in recent years, together with the measures taken to improve the investment climate. 
206. The Secretariat report, however, describes an extremely complex tariff system, with regular 
modifications of the tariff applied throughout the year, as well as additional duties to be paid by 
importers.  Another of Costa Rica's concerns is Indi a's use of certain export restrictions such as those  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  on cotton and cotton yarn between 2010 and 2011 with the aim of guaranteeing supplies of raw 
materials for its textile industry and lowering domestic prices. 
207. Costa Rica has welcomed the notable openi ng up implemented by India and the positive 
impact this has had on its economic growth and on combating poverty.  We believe, however, that 
India's trade openness needs to achieve the certainty and predictability which tr ading partners require.  
We also consider that multilateral trade negotiatio ns must enable the levels of opening applied 
unilaterally to be consolidated, creating new trad e flows in this vast market, which will be of 
considerable benefit to other developing countries. 
JAPAN 
208. Today, I wish to make comments on six trade related areas: 1) charges on imports; 
2) investment policy;  3) technical barriers to trade;  4) local content requirements;  5) anti-dumping 
measures;  and 6) intellectual property.  
209. With regard to charges on imports, I would like to raise two points.  Japan welcomes Indian 
Government's decision to exempt the Special A dditional Duty for pre-packaged goods. We further 
expect that India will expand its exemption to Co mplete Built Unit automobiles. In addition, Japan 
continues to request India to process SAD refund requests in a more prompt manner.  
210. Japan has also concerns on the Education Cess of customs that it could correspond to custom 
duties within the meaning of paragraph 1 of Article II of GATT. Japan would like to ask India to provide information on the future prospects of reviewing it.  
211. With regard to investment policy, Japan appr eciates the recent liberalization, such as the 
abolition of the Non-Objection Certificate of new bu siness for foreign firms with their joint-venture 
partners. In addition, we are pleased by the news that India decided to allow FDI in multi-brand 
retailers up to 51% under certain conditions. Japan e xpects that this news could become reality and 
would like to learn further details.  
212. Having said that, I would like to make some re quests regarding India's investment policy.  
India decided to abolish the exemption of the Mi nimum Alternate Tax (MAT) for firms in Special 
Economic Zones from April 2012, despite the fact th at those firms were ensured the exemption and 
reduction of the MAT for specified periods. Japan c onsiders that such an unpredictable change of 
policy undermines the credibility of India's investment  promotion policy. Therefore, we request that 
India consider its retraction.  
213. In the financial services sector, Japan expect s further de-regulation and liberalization for 
foreign financial firms. This includes relaxation of restrictions of borrowing from head offices for 
foreign bank branches, de facto licensing limitations  for bank branches in urban areas, and easing 
foreign investment limitations in the insurance sect or.  Japan also expects that the bill amending the 
Land Acquisition Act would be adopted in the Indian Parliament, which is exp ected to provide legal 
stability for users of acquired land. These concerns we re submitted to the Government of India by the 
Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India. Japan believes that these concerns are shared by 
other foreign firms as well.   
214. In the area of technical regulations, Japan encourages India to involve interested parties in 
adoption of new technical regulations to avoid un necessary obstacles to trad e, especially in such 
sectors as iron and steel, car tires and telecommunications equipment. Japan believes that it is also important to ensure adequate preparatory time be fore enactment of new technical regulations.  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  215. In this context, Japan appreciates the recen t amendment of the guidelines for security of 
telecommunications equipment and software. Howe ver, our concerns still exist because of some 
remaining provisions, such as the prohibition of foreigne rs to be in charge of network administration. 
These could be incompatible with WTO agreements, and therefore Japan urges India to reconsider 
them.  
216. With regard to local content requirements, Japan has observed some alarming movements to 
introduce local content requirements or preferential measures to domestic manufacturers in some sectors. Examples are found in several sub-program s of a solar power project named "Jawaharlal 
Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM)", and reco mmendations aiming for development of domestic 
telecommunications equipment manufacture by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in 
April 2011. Japan considers that these measures could be incomp atible with WTO agreements, 
therefore we would like India to review them.  
217. In the area of anti-dumping, while India is the mo st frequent user of this measure, we have 
observed many procedural problems in the investig ations by Indian authorities from the view points 
of due process and transparency. Some of the problems are clearly inconsistent with the AD 
Agreement. Japan requests India that it addresses the se problems in order to ensure the transparency 
of proceedings and to protect the rights of interested parties. 
218. As for intellectual property, Japan requests I ndia to address the frequent divergence between 
judgments by the Intellectual Property Appellate Bo ard (IPAB) and by the High Court, to shorten 
examination periods for patent applications, and to publish timely information on the average period 
of court cases and enforcement records.  
NORWAY 
219. First, let me express how impressed we are with  the high rate of economic growth in India 
and the positive contribution this growth has made in  the fight against poverty.  We note that this 
dynamism is in large part due to unilateral trade and structural reforms carried out since 1990s.  By 
reducing barriers to trade and investment India has successfully drawn many benefits, not least in by 
way of more or less sustained growth in these challenging times.  Needless to say, that I would have 
been even more impressed if most of that unilateral action had been bound in the WTO giving 
economic actors stable market access. 
220. Merchandise trade between Norway and India is onl y 1% of total Norwegian trade.  However, 
the growth is extremely high and there is huge poten tial for further increase.  As an illustration, fish 
exports have been relatively low, however, recently  we have seen a substantial and sustained increase 
in exports of Atlantic salmon, a direct result from reducing the tariff from 30% to 10% in 2006. 
221. In addition to cross-border trade, approximat ely 100 Norwegian companies are established in 
the Indian market.  They represent maritime, chemic al, information technology companies, as well as 
oil and gas industries – but we see a trend towards diversification. 
222. Also at the end of 2010, the Norwegian Govern ment Pension Fund Global had investments in 
no less than 266 Indian companies, about 1% of the total of the funds' investments. 
223. In March 2010 Norway and India signed an agreement on cooperation in fisheries and 
aquaculture.  This underlines the importance of Indi a as a market for Norway's most important export 
products, but also the fact that India is one of th e 10 main producers of seafood on a global basis.  
There is huge potential for cooperation and trade, not only in fish and marine products themselves, but 
knowledge and equipment as well.  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  224. India's continuous efforts to modernize and impr ove its trading regime have borne fruit.  But 
there are still a number of challenges.  For instan ce, constraints in India' s transport and logistics 
systems are serious impediments to our trade, and fu rther growth could be facilitated by infrastructure 
modernization.  Large investments are needed, and public investment alone will not suffice. 
225. We would like to see a more ambitious trade ag enda for India in these fields (logistics and 
transport) in the WTO.  This would attract business and investments to the benefit of Indian as well as 
foreign businesses. 
226. Despite the potential, there are other recurri ng problems as well;  often cited by economic 
operators is unpredictability in different forms.  One obvious example is the inherent complexity of 
the tariff schedule which is the subject of sever al written questions.  Complicated and sometimes 
opaque SPS-requirements is another issue.  The sh eer size and complexity of India and its economy 
presents a great challenge to exporters and i nvestors.  This makes openness, transparency, 
predictability, including uniform application of ru les, even more fundamental prerequisites for 
developing economic interaction. 
227. As mentioned, India has become a key market for Norwegian business, not least in telecoms 
where one investment exceeds US$2 billion.  Unfo rtunately, recent developments related to the 
allocation of telecom licenses in 2008 have contri buted to an uncertain operating environment for 
foreign investors.  I trust that the Indian Government  will do its utmost to ensure a fair treatment of 
those international investors that have been invited to take part in the further development of India's 
important telecommunications industry. 
228. Let me now turn to a different issue – trade reme dies.  We note with certain concern that India 
continues to be a major user of anti-dumping measur es, and that India accounts for almost 18% of all 
measures introduced in the WTO's existence.  In our view, the current anti-dumping rules have some 
unfortunate weaknesses and lack of clarity and are why stricter rules for using anti-dumping 
instruments is a main priority for Norway. 
229. India has initiated a dumping investigation ag ainst imports from Norway.  To our knowledge, 
this is the first investigation in India against No rwegian imports, so we are naturally following the 
process closely.  The conduct of the investigation raises several concerns for Norway, and we have 
asked some questions in this regard. 
230. Before I conclude, I would like to take this  opportunity to express appreciation for India's 
continued engagement in the DDA.  India is a key pl ayer, and your active and constructive role in the 
negotiations is necessary and is highly valued.  As Norway, India places great emphasis on sustaining 
and strengthening the multilateral trading system.  We appreciate the efforts you have made and 
continue to make in this regard.  There is inte resting work going on regarding transparency and 
notifications and we are encouraged that India is  a supporter of these efforts in the different WTO 
Bodies.  However, we note from the Secretariat's Report that despite welcome recent submissions, India still has considerable room for improveme nt on fulfilling her own notification obligations, 
especially as regards agriculture policies. 
EUROPEAN UNION 
231. India with its fast-growing economy is an emerging power in the world trade and a strategic 
partner for the EU. EU-India trade has grown impr essively over the years, from €26 billion in 2000 to 
€67.7 billion in 2010, bouncing back quickly after a difficult year in 2009. 
232. Since India's last Trade Policy Review in 2007 we  have also moved closer together. Not only 
have we cooperated more intensively in the cont ext of the WTO and the Doha negotiations where WT/TPR/M/249 
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  India has shown some much appreciated signs of l eadership, but we are also intensively engaged to 
hopefully finalise soon the negotiations of our bilate ral negotiations for a broad based, ambitious and 
comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. Negotiations are currently at an important juncture and the early conclusion of these negotiations would send a st rong signal of our joint efforts to promote free 
trade and counter protectionism. 
233. The spectacular and consistent growth of India and of its role in the world trade comes with 
certain new responsibilities. This emerging role can a nd should translate itself also into a boost to the 
economies of other developing economies. In this context, we warmly welcome India's Duty Free 
Tariff Preference (DFTP) scheme, which is in place since 13 August 2008 and its respective recent notification made under the transparency mechan ism for preferential trade arrangements. Although 
we will study the scheme in detail, we note that the scheme covers 85% of total tariff lines, which 
India will eliminate over a period of five years th rough equal annual reductio ns. We would appreciate 
if India could elaborate on whether this scheme has been implemented already since 2008 and also, 
whether the envisaged annual cuts have taken place. 
234. We encourage a global player like India to expl ore ways of increasing the DFQF access that it 
grants to LDCs even further. Moreover, it is importa nt that India assesses the impact that its policy in 
negotiating trade agreements with other developing members has in fo stering development, and that 
this policy coherently evolves in line with Indi a's growing economic importa nce. Notwithstanding the 
legal coverage provided to India by the Enabli ng Clause, India could be considering upgrading 
preferential trade agreements it is currently negotia ting or has negotiated in the past, which - due to 
their limited coverage – may risk being stumbling block rather than stepping stones towards a stronger 
multilateral trading system. 
235. During the previous TPR, India's structural reform  efforts, trade liberalisation and the pursuit 
of these reforms were encouraged by Members. Based on the reports for the current Trade Policy 
Review, we are happy to see that many of the reforms are ongoing and have created tangible 
economic benefits. In this context, we would like to positively highlight steps taken in the area of 
taxation, investment promotion, manufacturing, in implementing competition policy and developing 
relevant institutions (such as the Competition Commission) or steps to improve the business 
environment more generally.  
236. However, further important reforms are still re quired to achieve the objectives set by India's 
Foreign Trade Policy, which aims to expand trad e in order to increase India's share of global 
merchandise trade and use this expansion as a polic y to promote economic growth and employment 
generation.  
237. In this regard, and despite some of the positiv e developments since the last Review I just 
mentioned, I would hereby like to highlight some  areas where we feel further efforts would be 
necessary. We have addressed them in more deta il in our advance written questions; nevertheless, I 
would like to touch upon some of th em here.  First, I would like to re fer to tariffs and taxes.  Although 
India's average tariffs have gone down extensively du ring the last decade, further reduction of tariffs - 
in particular in areas where tariffs are at peak levels - is very important. India is becoming more competitive every year and most industrial sectors do not need anymore the protection of high tariffs. However, I would like to point out that India has also increased certain tariffs.   
238. There also remain concerns related to the calculation of additional duties which are often 
complex and difficult to understand. In this respect we would very much appreciate if the proposals 
for a General Goods and Services Tax (GST) would be taken forward vigorous ly and the GST covers 
all important economic sectors. More over, as India continues to inte grate with the world economy, it 
would be important if India would abandon its practi ces of restricting exports in certain important raw 
materials, like cotton or iron ore products.   WT/TPR/M/249 
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  239. Secondly, I would like to encourage India to in tensify its efforts to liberalise and simplify 
investment conditions, in particular with respect  to services. We have noted positively the recent 
removal of prior approval requirements for new inv estments in cases where the foreign investor has 
had a "prior collaboration" with an Indian partne r in the same sector.  But many restrictions and 
regulatory barriers still exist with respect to capital investments. Important sectors which still remain 
restricted for FDI include for example telecommunica tions, retail distribution, insurance, accountancy 
and auditing, banking, or legal services. Also, regulatory i ssues, in a number of services sectors 
require further reforms to remove unnecessary red ta pe and ensure transparency and fair treatment. 
We would therefore very much welcome India to inte nsify efforts to undertake legislative reforms for 
further liberalisation in these areas.  
240. Thirdly, we are monitoring with concern certa in developments in India's overall regulatory 
environment, including in some sectoral polici es, in the area of SPS and TBT - such as the 
development of domestic standards not based on inte rnational standards, the introduction for example 
of security requirements in telecom infrastructure, mandatory testing and certification for an increasing number of products (extended now also  to additional steel products) - as well as 
complicated and lengthy customs procedures. We ar e interested in hearing India's view on how it 
plans to ease these barriers. Not least as these certainl y contribute to India's ranking in the 2011 World 
Bank register on the ease of doing business wher e India ranked 134 out of 183 economies.  
241. We also encourage India to move forward in the adoption of a uniform and comprehensive 
national law on public procurement. The setting up of  an open, transparent, non-discriminatory and 
efficient public procurement system is a pre-requis ite for obtaining best value for money in public 
expenditure, inter alia if India is to meet its own targets for expanding and improving infrastructure. 
We encourage India to remove domestic preferences that prevents taxpayers to profit from procuring goods and services at competitive prices. As stated in the Secretariat's report, we welcome that India 
became observer to the WTO Plur ilateral Agreement on Government Procurement in 2010 and would 
like to encourage India to reflect again on the mani fold advantages of joining this WTO Agreement. 
242. Last but not least, we note that the Secretariat' s Report describes the large stimulus package 
India introduced during the financial crisis , which by now has been partially reversed. We would 
appreciate more details on the existing measures, in cluding on export restrictions, and on India's plans 
to phase these out.  
243. In conclusion, the EU believes that India's ongoing structural and macroeconomic reforms can 
play a key role in ensuring long-term sustai nable development and improve India's business 
environment. This is especially important considering India's role regionally and in the global trade.  
SEPARATE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF TAIWAN, PENGHU, KINMEN AND MATSU 
244. Being the second most-populous country in the world and an emerging economy, India has 
been a main focus of attention over the past few years, particularly because of its impressive 
performance, its huge potential, and its deepening enga gement with the rest of the world, even during 
the recent financial crisis and global economic dow nturn. We recognize the tremendous efforts made 
by India on structural and institutional reforms in or der to alleviate the effects of industrialization and 
modernization of the country. And, we are pleased to  see that in all the approaches taken by the Indian 
government, it always aims at providing a stable tr ade policy environment and sticks to the objective 
on trade liberalization.  
245. During the period under review, India's average MFN tariff rate has come down from 15.1% 
to 12%. Most sectors are now partially open to fore ign direct investment, customs procedures have 
been streamlined and trade facilita tion measures continue to be intr oduced. Reform on the tax regime, WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 38  
 
  and rules and regulations is also on the way. Th e continuous growth in GDP and the expanding trade 
values are the best testimony to the su ccessful approach adopted by India.  
246. Nevertheless, for India's own be nefit as well as that of the world economy, further steps are 
needed in order to achieve a mutually beneficial  outcome. This TPR exercise in the WTO today, and 
the discussions over the subsequent sessions in the fo rm of clarification, explanation, and even 
suggestions, will hopefully provide India with a good basis for further reflection on the way forward.  
247. Between India and us, the amount of bilateral trade, investment , and technical cooperation has 
grown substantially over recent years. By 2010, th e total value of our two-way trade was just under 
US$6.5 billion, an increase of 56% over the previous  year. Within this figure, our exports to India 
were up by over 43% and our impor ts from India were 75% higher than the year before. And the trend 
continues. We can see that our total bilateral trade has already grown by another 43% in the first six 
months of 2011. In July 2011, we signed the Cu stoms Mutual Assistance Agreement and the 
Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement. Before th e end of this year, we will be signing, among 
others, the ATA Carnet Agreement, further indica tion of the closer trade and economic ties between 
our two economies. Given the complementary nature of our respective industries and trade, we have 
together started a common study to explore the prospects of us signing an Economic Cooperation 
Agreement (ECA). My delegation is looking forw ard to future progress and development on this 
front. 
248. We naturally take a great interest in this TPR  exercise. Generally, we would like to encourage 
India to accelerate its reform schedule, to simplif y certain aspects of its administration procedures, 
and implement those regulations already on the wa y, in order to facilitate the establishment of 
business in India and to reduce the cost  of trade. In addition, we woul d also urge India to be prudent 
when applying trade remedy measures as well as the instruments that might create restrictions or 
barriers on trade. We would also like to encourage India to accelerate its pace toward joining the 
GPA. On more specific aspects, we seek more de tailed information on certain policies, including 
those in India's 11
th Five-Year Plan to address insufficiencies of infrastructure, the formulation and 
implementation of bilateral and multilateral trade polic y, as well as clarification of the regulations on 
IPR, investment management and other specific sectors.  
CANADA 
249. Canada and India have long-standing bilateral relations, based on sh ared values such as 
democracy and pluralism and strong friendly links.  Th e Year of India in Canada in 2011 is intended 
to tighten these links by highlighting India's culture , its traditions and its diversity, and by celebrating 
the important contribution of the Indian Diaspora within Canadian society.  We consider that 
Indo-Canadians can be key actors in tightening links between Canada and India in a rapidly 
developing global network. 
250. Trading relations between Canada and India ha ve increased considerably since the previous 
Review – for example, in 2010, trade in goods betw een Canada and India amounted to C$4.2 billion, 
an increase of 11.7% since 2007.  Exports of Canadian goods to India have increased, from 
C$1.8 billion in 2007 to C$2.1 billion in 2010.  Imports of goods from India rose from C$2 billion to C$2.1 billion over the same period.  There has also been an increase in exports of Canadian services 
to India, from C$306 million in 2005 to C$355 milli on in 2008, while imports of services rose from 
C$302 million to C$589 million.  In 2010, direct investment between Canada and India in both 
directions was C$7 billion.  In June 2010, Prime Minister Harper and Prime Minister Singh set the 
ambitious objective of increasing bilateral trade to C$15 billion by 2015. 
251. Bilateral economic relati ons between Canada and India have  become closer since our prime 
ministers announced the opening of negotiations on  a global economic partnership agreement in  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  November 2010.  When concluded, this agreement will have the potential to increase GDP in Canada 
and India by at least C$6 billion.  Canada hopes that these negotiations will be stepped up in the 
months to come and will, in due course, result in an ambitious agreement that will lead to increased 
prosperity for both Canada and India. 
252. Since the last TPR of India in 2007, many countries have experienced slower economic 
growth due to the global economic crisis. India has fared better than many major economies during 
this period, thanks in part to  economic reforms it has implemented since the opening of its economy 
in the 1990s. India has made significant efforts to increase its international trade, through the 
conclusion of trade agreements with countries in the Asia-Pacific region and the opening of 
negotiations with other countries, including Canada. 
253. Canada would also like to take this opportu nity to acknowledge India's constructive 
engagement in the Doha Developm ent negotiations and we hope that India will continue to play an 
active role in the negotiations moving forward. 
254. While India has made improvements to its trad e regime since 2007, there are a number of 
specific issues which Canada would like to highlight  in this Trade Policy Review.  Firstly, Canada 
would like to acknowledge progress that India has ma de on reducing applied tariffs and efforts to 
simplify its tariff structures; however, we note that India still maintains a complex tariff structure and 
that applied MFN tariffs remain particularly high fo r many agricultural products.  Moreover, there are 
a considerable number of unbound lines in India's ta riff schedule. Canada would encourage India to 
further simplify its tariff structure to provide enha nced stable and predictable access to the Indian 
market for Canadian businesses and producers. 
255. In the area of services - a main driver fo r India's economic growth - Canada remains 
concerned that India maintains barriers to commercial presence in a variety of sectors, impeding access to the Indian services market. In addition, India's services market  access commitments are 
currently limited in scope, covering only a small number of service sectors. Canada encourages India 
to continue to consider further improve ments to its market access commitments. 
256. Canada recognizes India for its efforts in reform ing its international pr ocurement contracting 
process and becoming an observer to the WTO Agre ement on Government Procurement in February 
2010. It is our hope that India's observer status to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement 
will lead to eventual accession. 
257. Canada would like to acknowledge India's effo rts to harmonize and streamline its food safety 
regime, including the establishment of a single refere nce point for all matters relating to food safety 
and standards: the Food Safety and Standards Aut hority of India (FSSAI), which became operational 
in 2008. At the same time, Canada is concerne d that SPS measures lacking a scientific basis have 
been introduced by India over the reporting period. These include, most notably, restrictions on the importation of Canadian live animals and animal products, and fish and seafood products.  We also 
encourage India to promptly notify the WTO of its outstanding SPS measures and respond on a 
timelier basis to requests on bilateral SPS issues.  In  addition, Canada would encourage India to adopt 
less trade restrictive measures for Canadian grai ns and oilseeds where phytosanitary risks can be 
managed by other means.  We hope that by work ing together we will find means to resolve these 
issues. 
258. Canada is pleased to note that India has built upon the success recognized at the time of its 
last review in strengthening and modernizing its in tellectual property rights (IPR) regime, an example 
of this being the Trademark Amendment Bill passed  in 2010.  Moving forward, Canada would 
encourage India to focus on strengthening and str eamlining enforcement efforts among all levels of 
government.  Canada would also like to recognize th e steps India has taken to gradually increase the WT/TPR/M/249 
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  number of sectors in which FDI is permitted and to reduce sectoral restrictions.  FDI will become 
increasingly important in helping India fulfil its am bitious plans for infrastructure expansion, and 
efforts such as raising the FDI cap in the civil aviation sector are notable. We encourage India to 
expand the scope of this policy by implementing pr oposed changes to foreign ownership restrictions 
in other sectors, including the insurance sector. 
259. In the area of development assistance, Canada welcomes India's engagement on duty-free 
quota-free access for Least Developed Countries, as well as its important work on trade-related 
technical assistance in the context of Aid for Trade.   We encourage India to continue these efforts and 
where possible to collaborate with other donors in orde r to ensure coherent delivery of trade-related 
assistance. 
THAILAND 
260. India has been Thailand's key trading partne r and ranked first among the countries from the 
South Asian region, with the trade value aver aging US$5.145 billion per year from 2006-10.  For 
2010 Thailand and India traded at US$6.646 billion, growing from the previous year for 34%.  The 
growth rate of our trade is averaging at around 20% each year. 
261. India and Thailand have boasted a meaningful history in trade and commerce for a number of 
decades as we signed the first trade agreement in 1968.  In 2003, a major step forward has been 
imparted as we concluded the Thailand-India Free Trade Agreement on Early Harvest Scheme.  We would also like to congratulate the latest conclu sion of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement 
which has entered into force last year.  The c ooperation between Thailand and India also include, 
among others, Thai-Indian Joint Commission for Bila teral Cooperation, the cooperation between the 
Board of Investment of Thailand and Foreign Invest ment Promotion Board of India, and the Bilateral 
Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement. 
262. Echoing our ASEAN friends, Thailand applauds India for her resiliency to withstand the 
shocks of the current global financial and economic  crisis and for maintaining the high GDP growth 
rates and expansions of both exports and imports.  We also appreciate India's long commitment as a 
true advocate of the multilateral rule-based trading system of the WTO and other regional agreements. 
263. The Secretariat Report shows that even though  the average MFN tariff rate of India has 
declined, the average MFN tariff ra te for agricultural products, at 33.3%, still remains relatively 
higher than that of the non-agricultural products, at  8.9%.  We are specifically concerned about the 
high tariffs applied to food products and textiles a nd clothing and India's frequent use of antidumping 
and safeguard investigations and me asures.  Nevertheless, Thailand congratulates India on continuing 
to streamline customs procedures.  We would enco urage India to keep working on simplifying its 
import regime, such as its licensing and permit, along with the development of infrastructure to help 
decrease obstacles and costs of transportation of goods. 
ARGENTINA 
264. India is an original Member of the WTO, a strong defender of the multilateral trading system 
and a central point of reference in the Doha Round negotiations.  As the reports indicate, since the 
beginning of the past decade, India has been one of  the economies with the highest rate of growth in 
the world, an annual rate of 7% in GDP between 2001 and 2005 and nothing less than 8.4% between 2006 and 2011, even during the latest global financia l crisis.  Because of this, India has continued to 
expand its role in international trade and as a dr iving force in the global economy over this period.  WT/TPR/M/249 
 Page 41 
 
 
  265. Trade in goods as a percentage of GDP has continued to increase despite the unfavourable 
impact of the global financial crisis.  During the period under review bot h imports and exports 
increased.  The latter in particular rose by some 40% over this period. 
266. India has also continued to grow as a pole of attraction for global foreign investment.  It has 
taken steps to attract FDI, for example, by increasi ng the number of sectors in which it is authorized 
and reducing sectoral restrictions.  We see, however , that FDI is still prohibited in some sectors, 
particularly in activities related to agriculture. 
267. With regard to the use of anti-dumping measures,  we would like to see the Secretariat attach 
greater importance in its analysis to sunset review procedures, which have been widely used also by 
other important Members of the WTO. 
268. In the context of the Doha Round, India is a reference point and a leader in the negotiations 
on services.  This is not by chance.  The services sector provides 56% of the GDP and is the main driving force for economic growth;  between 2006 and 2010 it rose at an average rate of 10% and has 
demonstrated a capacity for resistance to the negative effects of the global crisis.  The financial services subsector remains the main factor of growth , together with the trade, hotels, transport and 
communications subsectors.  We note, however, that the manufacturing sector's share of GDP has 
fallen slightly. 
269. As regards tangible goods, the average tariff on industrial goods, 8.9%, is considerably lower 
than the average on agricultural products, which is  33.3%.  Likewise, the level of tariffs bound by 
India in the WTO is much higher than the rates app lied, particularly for many agricultural products.  
In addition, most of the central Government's subsidies go to this sector. 
270. Diplomatic relations between Argentina and India commenced over 60 years ago (in 1949 to 
be precise), but much remains to be done in the sphere of bilateral trade.  This has tripled over the past 
decade, reaching a total of US$1.2 billion in 2010, but its importance in the total trade of both 
countries is very limited.  Although Argentina import s around 1% of its total imports from India, the 
latter only buys 0.23% of its total imports from Argentina. 
271. In the export sector, although almost 2% of Argentina's exports go to India, our country only 
takes 0.15% of India's exports.  India's main e xports to Argentina are fuel such as diesel fuel, 
chemicals and yarns.  Argentina al most exclusively exports soya bean and sunflower oils.  As already 
mentioned, much remains to be done.  This is why a recent study by the Argentine Government 
identified India as a market with c onsiderable potential for the future. 
272. In this connection, in 2004 India and Mercos ur signed a preferential agreement, which came 
into force in 2009, with the aim of promoting bila teral trade flows by means of tariff concessions and 
preferences.  The agreement provides for preferen tial tariff access for almost 1,000 of the parties' 
products. 
273. India and Argentina share many interests in the multilateral sphere.  At the WTO, both in the 
Doha Round negotiations and in th e regular course of work, we have co-sponsored numerous joint 
proposals on several issues, for example, negotiati ons on market access for industrial goods, services, 
and trade and development.  In the WTO's regular work programme, we have made joint proposals in 
relation to regional trade agreements and monitoring of the recent financial crisis, as well as measures 
adopted by Members, just to name a few.  We are therefore confident that we shall continue to work 
together with India towards an ope n and rules-based multilateral system. WT/TPR/M/249 
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  TURKEY 
274. Since the previous Review in 2007, India has c ontinuously recorded one of the highest growth 
rates in the world. At the recent crisis, it emerged as one of the least affected countries. The reform 
and liberalization process which were initiated years ago clearly have been successful in transforming 
the economy, establishing well functioning markets, l eading to substantial in creases in the income 
level and decrease in poverty. The world has some thing to learn from Indian's experience of the 
reform process. 
275. More importantly, today India is one of the mo st promising economies in the world with an 
enormous market potential for both goods and servic es. As it moves forward with further integration 
of rural areas to its vibrant economy and as it a ddresses the infrastructure bottlenecks, it will further 
unleash its potential, and probably I ndia will maintain the highest grow th rates of the world for some 
years to come.  Nevertheless, the question remains whether the pace of the reform and liberalization 
process India embarked years ago is sufficient to address today's and tomorrow's challenges and can it 
be reviewed and accelerated? 
276. We are encouraged to learn that India aims to  maintain the path of the steady and progressive 
reform process and liberalization in  various sections of its economy. Given India's plan to double its 
share in global trade in the next couple of years, and India's need to generate employment for 10 million people per year in the next decade, k eeping its doors open to international trade and 
investment is necessary and beneficial. 
277. Competition that trade and more openness will bring about may help increase the productivity 
of various sectors. In this respect, while we consider  the relaxation of some FDI regulations in several 
areas, outlined in the Secretariat's Report as a step in  the right direction, we also note that in some 
other areas, the limitations have increased. Particularly, in services, there is a number of minimum requirements in various sectors like banking. The past experience indicated that removing the limitations helped the Indian economy and companies to become more competitive. 
278. Despite its success in the recent past, the S ecretariat Report points the problem of the 
inflation, particularly the increases in food prices.  As the world economy has just faced the possibility 
of a new downturn in the economic activities, it remains to be seen how effectively the anti-
inflationary policies may be implemented in the coming months. 
279. For the economic growth to be sustained in its current form, India must also ensure that its 
infrastructure runs parallel to its economic dynamism. It is noteworthy that the government is taking 
steps to address this problem. We believe that both domestic and foreign private companies must be 
encouraged more to take a bigger role in the process.  
280. We also noted that India has taken steps to to increase the tax revenues and to establish an 
efficient tax system as it was one of the issues rais ed at the previous meeting. In this respect, we 
welcome the introduction of the GST as a forward st ep. We certainly hope it will be uniform across 
the provinces.  
281. India is a strong supporter of the WTO system, and its commitment to the WTO and the DDA 
negotiations is also well known. It has played a pivotal role in the DDA and we hope that they will continue to show leadership in the difficult times of  the DDA. We work closely with India particularly 
in the agriculture negotiations in the G-33. 
282. In view of its economic growth, potential and its increasing role in the world economy, we 
consider it necessary that India help strengthen the multilateral trading system and the WTO. In this 
respect, we certainly hope that Co mmerce Secretary will also share his thoughts about how India will  WT/TPR/M/249 
 Page 43 
 
 
  balance the benefits of the bilateral and regional a rrangements with its concerns about the impact of 
these agreements on the WTO.  
283. India has fast become a signifi cant trade partner of Turkey. In 2010, despite the decrease in 
the previous year, trade volume reached US$4 billi on. In 2011, the trade has grown by about 90%, 
and we expect bilateral trade volum e to be around 7 billion by the end of this year. This will put India 
among the top ten trade partners of Turkey. We are currently looking into the possibility of 
concluding a free trade agreement, which will further boost the bilateral exchanges. 
284. While India has been following progressive trade liberalization, we also hope that India will 
move forward to simplify the tariff structure. Use of  different forms of additional duties and charges, 
or various import regulations produce a complicated trad e regime.  In this respect, specifically we are 
concerned with the import license requirements for marble. India is our second biggest export 
destination for marble. According to the notifica tion by India, import licenses are required on the 
grounds of safety, security and the environment. However, we have difficu lty in understanding how 
marble fits into this picture. 
285. We also would like to point out export restrictions on some products like cotton. They are 
also worrisome, since they reduce export volumes a nd divert supplies to the domestic market. We 
hope that India will share their intention on this policy. 
NEW ZEALAND 
286. India is an important trading partner for New Zealand. It is now our 8th largest merchandise 
export destination, up from 21st just five years ago. We take an active interest in India's trade policy 
and welcome the opportunity to participate in this Review. 
287. India's importance in the global economy cannot be underestimated. Its economy remains one 
of the fastest growing in the world.  New Zeala nd welcomes India's increasing participation in the 
global economy, as indicated by the increase of merchandise trade as a percentage of its GDP.  
288. New Zealand recognises India's resilience in the face of the global economic recession. With 
projections for continued high economic growth, based  in large part on strong domestic demand and a 
young, increasingly well educated population, Indi a's long-term position as a major global economic 
power is clear.  
289. India plays a crucial role in the WTO. As a country that firmly supports the WTO system and 
the benefits it brings, New Zealand appreciates Indi a's role as an advocate fo r an open, rules-based 
multilateral trade regime. We value the opportunity to  work with India in the WTO. We also value 
India's contribution to other global economic fra meworks and integration, including through its 
participation in the G20 and the East Asia Summit. 
290. We congratulate India on the benefits it has r eaped from trade liberalisation and structural 
reforms since the 1990s. Continued liberalisation will  facilitate India's goal of increasing its share of 
global trade, as will ongoing simplification of its bu siness environment and the continued opening of 
its economy to foreign direct investment. 
291. In that context, we encourage India to consider  the scope for further simplification of its tariff 
structure, particularly for agricultural products wher e the reports prepared for this review show that 
the average tariff is over 3.5 times that for non-agri cultural products.   New Zealand shares India's 
concern about the danger of non-tariff measures increasi ng, and looks forward to continuing to work 
with India's authorities, including on SPS and TBT issues.   WT/TPR/M/249 
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  292. The negotiation by India of regional and bilatera l trade agreements will support India's efforts 
to increase its share of global trade.   New Zeal and and India launched our  own FTA negotiation in 
2010. The comprehensive and high-quality agreement that our two Prime Ministers have instructed 
should be negotiated will allow us to build a more  strategic economic relationship and to capitalise on 
the complementary nature of our economies.  
293. As one of the key emerging economies in the WTO system, India has a vital role to play 
along with other key WTO Members in efforts to find a way forward in the Doha Round, and we encourage India's constructive engagement to this end.  Given the ongoing importance of India for the 
global economy, its leadership in the WTO will be vi tal for the future wellbeing of this Organisation. 
We look to India to continue its advocacy of the multilateral trading system, and to set an example 
through ongoing steps to improve the tr ansparency and openness of its economy. 
CHILE 
294. Chile considers India to be a trading partner of vital importance.  Since 2007, we have had 
a Partial Scope Agreement (PSA) with India, which is the cornerstone of trade relations between the 
two countries and is the first trade agreement signed by India with a Latin American country on an 
individual basis.  Under this PSA, 98% of Chilean  exports and 91% of those from India have been 
subject to an average tariff reduction of 20% since the entry into fo rce of the Agreement. 
295. Chile welcomes the way in which India has faced  up to the current global economic crisis and 
the rapidity with which it has become integrated at the global level through the signature of trade 
agreements.  Everything indicates that trade relations will continue to deepen in the future.  As proof 
of this, Chile and India are currently sitting at th e negotiating table in order to expand the current 
PSA, which it is hoped to finalize in 2011.  One of its  benefits will be to pr ovide better conditions for 
concluding a more comprehensive free trade agreem ent to include disciplines such as services and 
investment. 
296. In this, the fifth Review of India's trade policy, in addition to the questions posed, we should 
like to express two concerns.  We are concerned at th e form and application of certain trade policies in 
order to achieve short-term goals such as curbing inflation, as indicated in the second part of the 
Government report;  and also as regards sanitary and phytosanitary measures, the administrative 
obstacles must be overcome so that the Food Safe ty and Standards Act can come into force. 
PERU 
 
297. Because of the size of its economy, India occupies 10
th place at the global level and since the 
early 1990s has initiated a series of reforms that have made it one of the most rapidly growing 
economies.  India is an important example of how  the trade liberalization and structural reform 
process has helped to achieve high rates of GDP grow th, with an average of 8% over the past decade, 
growth that continued during the most critical peri od of the global financial crisis, enabling India's 
trade to expand. 
298. Despite this significant growth, India still has to tackle important challenges in order to 
achieve sustainable development, notably comb ating poverty, food security, climate change, 
the infrastructure deficit, and maintaining a high leve l of growth to enable it to meet the needs of its 
large population, the second largest in the world. 
299. Although the growth in trade in goods has enabled India to play a more important role in the 
global economy, it still has a structural deficit in its  trade balance and in its current account because of 
strong domestic demand, higher oil prices, and high fiscal spending, so it will need, inter alia , to  WT/TPR/M/249 
 Page 45 
 
 
  improve its policies for attracting investment in or der to meet its infrastructure development needs 
and achieve a macroeconomic balance. 
300. At the bilateral level, our countries have hi storically had trade a nd cooperation relations, 
which have expanded in recent years.  For example,  in 2010 our exports amount ed to US$219 million, 
double their 2005 value.  Imports amounted to so me US$464 million, with a deficit in the trade 
balance of some US$245 million for Peru, and total trade of US$684 million. 
301. The main products exported to India by Peru ar e copper and zinc ore and their concentrates, 
lead, antimony, fish meal and oil and agricultural pr oducts.  The main imports from India are:  motor 
cycles, vehicles, laminated products, yarns and medicines. 
302. Some large Indian industrial groups such as Mahindra and Reliance are carrying out 
investment projects in Peru.  The Peruvian AJE Group, in turn, has started to produce aerated 
beverages in India, and the Peruvian franchise Bem bos has been introduced in India.  This growing 
investment has led our Governments to negotiate a bilateral investment promotion treaty to serve as 
a framework for these business ventures. 
303. India and Peru have common interests in the international economic agenda and in forums 
such as the WTO, where we belong to the G-20 a nd G-33 Groups in the agricultural negotiations.  
We are also promoting the protection of biodiversit y in the patent regime under the TRIPS Agreement 
and the need for adequate protection of genetic  resources and the traditional knowledge associated 
with them, presenting a joint proposal together with a group of countries last April.  We hope to continue cooperating with India in these and other s pheres.  This is why the review of India's trade 
policy we are undertaking is of particular importance to my country. 
304. As regards trade, India lowered its MFN tari ffs from 15.1% to 12% in 2010-2011.  While 
welcoming this progress, we note that agricultural ta riffs remain high, an average of 33.3%, so we 
believe that there is still room for lowering tariff rates still further and making its trade regime and 
tariff structure less complex. 
ECUADOR 
 
305. Like Ecuador, India is a developing country  with a wealth of biological diversity, 
endeavouring to expand its range of  exports and give its products value added.  Interesting features of 
the performance of India's economy over the review  period include the high rates of growth, around 
9%, as well as India's capacity to respond to the cris is.  In this connection, attention should be drawn 
to the important role played by social investment, the preservation and use of government policy 
tools, the existence of flexible mechanisms that  enable growth and development criteria to be 
reconciled, as well as the need to use trad e as a tool and not as an end in itself. 
306. India has managed to bring down production costs as a way of boosting exports, together with 
investment in the infrastructure used  by the export sector and a plan to diversity exports.  As part of 
its development plan, India still does not allow FDI in certain strategic sectors, a prerogative which 
developing countries need to retain. 
307. However, the reduction in tariffs during the cris is and in internal taxes, accompanied by an 
increase in the current account deficit as a percen tage of GDP, from -2.3% in 2008-2009, -2.8% in 
2009-2010, and -3.2% in 2010-2011, underlines the importance of protecting the State's revenue. 
308. India's balance of payments also varied over the past three years, from -1.7% in 2008-2009, 
an improvement in 2009-2010 at 1%, and a reduc tion in 2010-2011 to 0.9%, underlining the 
importance of State revenue. WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 46  
 
  309. The development achieved in India has been echoed in social indicators such as poverty 
indicators, levels of access to education and health.  One interesting fact that shows the progress made 
in India's production matrix is th e growth in the services sector, whic h is currently the most dynamic 
in the country's economy, with growth rates ex ceeding 10%.  Ecuador welcomes the progress made 
by India during the period under review, particular ly in the social sphere, which has enabled the 
multilateral trading system to be utilized to achieve real progress. 
ZIMBABWE 
310. Zimbabwe and India share some common objectives and interests in the WTO, in particular, 
in the agriculture negotiations. Within the G20 ag ricultural grouping, we both share the need to 
translate the Doha Development Agenda into reality , where agriculture should be fully incorporated 
into the rules of the multilateral trading system, with a view to eliminating the distortions prevailing in 
agricultural production and trade. We further find common ground in the G33 group, which advocates 
for agricultural negotiations that take into acc ount the livelihood and food security needs of our 
populations, particularly the rural poor. 
311. We note from the Secretariat's Report that India is one of the fastest growing economies in the 
global economy as shown by its r obust growth and resilience during th e global financial crisis. India 
continues to implement policies that are in line with its long-term development goals such as 
promoting overall economic growth through industria lization and self-sufficiency, which has seen the 
country developing into a major powerhouse in th e area of Information Communication Technologies 
(ICT),  pharmaceuticals, textiles, agro-processing, and of late, automotive industries. We commend 
India for these efforts and have confidence that the country will continue with its reforms and 
implement national development policies to sustai n the robust growth as well as advance its objective 
of becoming a major player in the global trading system. 
312. We are particularly encouraged by India`s efforts to diversify the economy through investing 
in infrastructure to promote investme nt in agriculture, services and indus trial development.  It is clear 
from the Secretariat's Report that India stands to  benefit substantially from the multilateral trading 
system by developing its infrastructure to encourage private sector investment in the economy. 
Continued and targeted infrastructure programme s will therefore have a multiplier effect on the 
country`s overall development initiatives. 
313. On the trade front, we note with appreciation Indi a`s efforts to liberalize trade, while at the 
same time being conscious of its trade deve lopment objective to double its share of global 
merchandise trade within the next five years, by  exploring markets through the multilateral trading 
system as well as regional and bilateral arrangements.  We further commend efforts by India to put in 
place trade laws that are compatible with th e evolving trading system, notably, through the 
development of a wide range of regulations that in clude the Foods and Safety Standards Act which is 
yet to be enforced. 
314. We note also that India`s import regime still remains complex and therefore look forward to 
the country reviewing its licensing and permit system, as well as the tariff regime to make it more 
predictable, transparent and effective. 
315. My delegation would like to express our appreci ation for India`s initiative to promote South-
South cooperation through investments and provision of technical assistance to Africa. We congratulate India for being among the first group of developing countries to offer duty- free quota- free market access of around 92.5% on global export s of all LDCs, whose majority are from Africa. 
On an issue much closer to us, our two countries ar e both participants to the Global System of Trade 
Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP), w hose objective is to promote intra-developing 
country trade.  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  316. My country has benefited and continues to be nefit from capacity building activities offered by 
the Indian Government, especially in the area  of training for SMEs under the India-Zimbabwe 
bilateral cooperation. Recently, in April 2011, my country participated in a seminar on sharing 
experiences on the enforcement of intellectual prop erty laws in the globalized world, which was 
organized and sponsored by the Government of India. 
317. India also plays a positive role in South-Sout h investments, given the recent initiatives to 
expand Indian investments in Africa. Zimbabwe  hosts a number of investments from India, 
particularly in the agro-processing, textiles and agricultural-equipment manufacturing which have 
generated employment opportunities for our people. The recent major investment in steel production 
is testimony to the warm and growin g relations between our two countries. 
URUGUAY 
318. We express our satisfaction at the progress of ec onomic and trade relations , in particular, the 
signature of the Investment Protection and Prom otion Treaty and the negotiations under way with 
a view to concluding an agreement to avoid double ta xation.  It is also important to underline the 
significant increase in trade flows during the first quarter of this year in comparison with the same 
period in 2010. 
319. Nevertheless, Uruguay would like to express its ha bitual concern at the tariff escalation and 
the taxes applied to the import of greasy and washed wool and wool tops.  In this connection, it should 
be pointed out that exports of wool, not carded or combed (tariff heading 5101 in the Mercosur Common Nomenclature) accounted for 42. 84% and 63.89% of Uruguay's exports to India 
in 2009 and 2010, respectively. 
320. The escalation, on what are industrial inputs, ranges from 5.15% on imports of greasy wool 
up to 37.7% on wool tops. 
BANGLADESH 
321. We highly value our strong bilateral cooperation a nd partnership with India. In this regard, we 
welcome the significant strides made in our bilatera l relations following the recent historic visit of 
H.E. Dr. Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh. The visi t has opened up new vistas of opportunities for 
demonstrating our commitment to further deepen and diversify our political and economic relations 
for our mutual benefit as well as for regional growth and stability. 
322. India's robust growth and emergence to the stat us of a major trading nation has created new 
opportunities for neighbouring LDCs, like Bangladesh . Our import from India in the year 2010-11 
was more than US$4.5 billion while our export to India was around US$0.5 billion. During the recent 
high-level political visit, our two Prime Ministers underscored the need for increasing trade volumes 
and addressing existing trade imbalances. We recall with gratitude the announcement made by the 
Prime Minister of India to remove all 46 textile lines, which are of critical interest to Bangladesh, 
from India's Negative List for LDCs, under the provis ions of SAFTA, thereby reducing the applicable 
duty rate to zero with immediate effect.  This will have a positive impact on addressing the trade gap 
between our two countries. We hope that India would continue to make efforts to further deepen its 
market access preferences for LDCs, including Bangladesh. 
323. We hope that our two sides will furthe r accelerate our ongoing cooperation towards 
harmonization of standards and mutu al recognition of certificates for promoting bilateral trade. This 
would go a long way in addressing some of the non-tariff barriers that often pose challenges to an unhindered flow of bilateral trade. We recognize that the highest political leadership of our two 
countries have issued directives to the authorities c oncerned to identify and remove all barriers to WT/TPR/M/249 
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  unfettered bilateral trade, especially those relati ng to non-tariff and para-tariff barriers and port 
restrictions. The recent initiatives to open and opera tionalize new land ports, integrated check posts 
and border haat  or local markets would add further impetus to the burgeoning border trade between 
our two countries in a regulated manner. It is our  firm conviction that these constructive border trade 
promotion measures would contribute to the economic development of the surrounding areas which 
are often remote and hard-to-reach. The exchange of instruments of ratification of the Bilateral 
Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement is also a step in the right direction to increase the flow of investments, including joint ventures, between our two countries. There has also been 
significant progress made in the area of trade and tr ansit with the signing of the Standard Operating 
Procedures allowing for the movement of trucks carrying goods from nei ghbouring Nepal and Bhutan 
to Land Customs Stations in Bangladesh. We hope that the formalities for the use of the two major 
seaports in Bangladesh for movement of goods to a nd from India through water, rail and road would 
be concluded on a priority basis. Our two c ountries share the understanding that road, rail and 
waterways are the essential building blocks to an inte r-dependent and mutually beneficial relationship 
among the countries of the region. 
324. As a net food importing county, Bangladesh s ources many of our essential foods items from 
India. As such, any changes in Indian policies can have far-reaching impact on our food security 
situation. We would appreciate continued dialog ue and engagement with the relevant Indian 
authorities to pre-empt any unanticipated fall- out from changes in India's policy regime.   
325. India is an emerging economic powerhouse as we ll as a big market with growing purchasing 
power. On the other hand Bangladesh also has so me comparative advantage in some sectors which 
can contribute to building complementarities betwee n our two economies. We hope to work together 
jointly to benefit from and harness our untapped poten tials through a shared growth and development 
strategy. The rising tide of Indian economy shou ld help lift smaller boats in the neighbourhood 
towards achieving sustainable economic growth in the region. 
BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA 
 
326. The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of  Venezuela acknowledges the strenuous efforts 
made by the Indian Government to prepare this ex ercise we are undertaking t oday, which is extremely 
important inasmuch as we are reviewing the trade policy and its effects for a Member that is so important to the multilateral trading system - India - at a very special juncture in the international 
economic system, marked by the most serious econo mic and financial crisis affecting the world in 
recent years.  In this connection, we note with gr eat interest and admiration how India has been able 
to offset positively the serious  effects of this situation. 
327. Following the visit of the President of the Re public, Hugo Chávez Frías, to India in 2005, 
bilateral trade relations have been moving towards a long-term strategic alliance, representing one of 
the major achievements in consolidating such links and making Venezuela India's second-most 
important Latin American trading partner and its  eighth largest reliable supplier of crude oil. 
328. This has enabled trade between the Bolivarian  Republic of Venezuela and India to rise from 
US$532.71 million in 2007 to US$3,069.6 million in 2010, giving Venezuela a trade balance surplus 
as Venezuelan exports to India rose from US$389.91  million to US$2,885.76 million over the same 
period, with oil being our main export to India, accounting for 99%. 
329. India's exports to Venezuela have increased at a much slower rate, from US$142.80 million to 
US$183.96 million between 2007 and 2010, the fo llowing being the principal exports:  
pharmaceuticals and chemicals;  iron and steel;  el ectrical machinery and equipment, sound and image 
players and recorders and televisions;  cotton and clothing.  WT/TPR/M/249 
 Page 49 
 
 
  330. It is forecast that trade between our two countries will continue to grow in the long term as 
a result of the increase in energy relations and the interest expressed in e xpanding cooperation in other 
spheres of common interest such as:  health and medicine, information technology, the automobile 
industry, agriculture, infrastructure, telecommunications, inter alia .  As far as investment is 
concerned, large Indian pharmaceutical compan ies and several information technology firms are 
playing an active role in Venezuela's market. 
331. At the multilateral level, we can state that Venezuela and India share a similar position on the 
majority of issues under the umbrella of the D oha Round and throughout this long negotiating 
procedure we have defended the development dime nsion as a way of achieving a fair and balanced 
result consonant with the respective mandates and, what is more important, in the interests of 
developing countries. 
332. Clear examples of this are the solid alliances we  have formed both in agriculture, through the 
G-20 and G-33, and in NAMA through NAMA-11, groups which have set the guidelines for the 
negotiations.  We recognize the active and dynamic ro le played by India throughout the Doha Round 
negotiations in the various discussion forums as a vali d partner of developing Members, and we urge 
it to pursue this role, facing up to the new challeng es which these countries have to face in this forum. 
SOUTH AFRICA 
333. Let me first provide some indication of why Sout h Africa places much interest in India's trade 
policy. South Africa and India have a profound re lationship that dates back some centuries ago the 
highlight of which is India's unmatched contributio n in the fight against apartheid policy in the old 
South Africa.  India was the first country to severe diplomatic relations with South Africa in the late 
1940s and various embargoes were placed on South African, including trade.  Diplomatic relations 
between the two countries were resumed in 1993 -94 and since then, there have been various 
initiatives to promote and strengthen these relations.  Th e promotion of trade and investment is central 
to these initiatives in order to stimulate economic growth both ways.  
334. The two economies, characterized as emerging market economies, face similar challenges of 
poverty and inequality. It is therefore no surprise that we share similar po licy approaches in many 
respects. For South Africa, the Indian market of over 1 billion people offers great opportunities for exports.  South Africa's trade with India had doubled in the past five years, making India the sixth largest export market for South Africa and the ninth source of imports.  There are investment 
opportunities for South Africa in India especially in infrastructure for which, according to the 
Government report, there will be increase in i nvestment as it is key to their economic growth. 
335. It is against this background that we place much  interest and therefore participate in India's 
TRP to better understand their trade and investment e nvironment.  We have therefore studied both the 
trade policy review reports by the WTO Secretar iat and the government of India and have the 
following observations and comments to make: 
336. We note from the Government Report and confir m that India has always stood for an open, 
equitable, predictable, non-discriminatory and rul es-based multilateral trade regime.  In this regard, 
India and South Africa share the same views hence th e two countries, together with Brazil and China, 
through the G20, are making strides in ensuring subs tantial and effective reduction in trade-distorting 
domestic support, the elimination of all forms of  agricultural export subsidies and market access 
improvement. 
337. India's commitment to the reform of the multilateral trading system is confirmed by the 
various trade policy reforms undertaken since the l ast policy review. Both the Government and the 
Secretariat Reports indicate that tariffs have been  substantially reduced.  The simple average MFN WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 50  
 
  tariff declined from 15.1% in 2006-07 to 12% in 2010-11.   That being the case, we however note that 
the Indian agriculture sector is still protected from international competition relative to the industrial 
sector.  The average WTO agricultural tariff is 33. 3% compared to the average of 8.9% for non-
agricultural products. As the Secretariat Report indi cates, there are also various non-tariff measures 
that add up to the protection provided to the sector, making the Indian agriculture trade regime very 
complex to predict.  We also note from the Secr etariat report that the Indian government provides 
minimum price guarantees to farmers when prices dr op below certain levels. In our view, this support 
resembles the types of support provided by some  traditional high agriculture  subsidizing developed 
countries which India and the rest of the G20 are against. 
338. In the area of trade facilitation, we also not e from the Government report that India has 
undertaken various initiatives to reduce transaction time  and cost to facilitate trade.  South Africa 
would like to commend India for these efforts.  
339. On FDI, we note that India has reformed its policy regime. As the Secretariat Report 
indicates, India's liberal investment regime is complemented by a moderate and stable tax regime and other incentives.  For South Africa this is a move in the positive direction considering our investment 
aspirations in India.  We took note of other refo rms that the Government of India has undertaken in 
the financial and industrial sectors. We commend Indi a for these reforms and en courage that the scope 
of reforms be broaden to include the agriculture sector.  
340. Lastly, we note with appreciation India's effort s towards the promotion of Africa's economic 
development.  As the Government report indi cates, 19 LDCs from Africa are benefitting from the 
duty free quota free market access provided in line w ith the WTO's Hong Kong Ministerial Mandate.  
In addition to this, we also appreciate India's technical and economic c ooperation programme worth 
over US$1 billion, of which Africa is the largest recipi ent.  India is also making use of the investment 
opportunities available in African agriculture.  This will go a long way to help alleviate poverty and 
increase food security in the agriculture-domin ated economies of the African countries. 
MOROCCO 
 
341. The delegation of the Kingdom of Morocco is honoured  to take part today in this fifth Review 
of India's trade policy.  Even though the period since the previous Review in 2007 has been marked by a major international economic and financial crisis , through its resilience, it s diversification and its 
determined reforms, India's economy has been able to resist and to maintain a growth rate that is one 
of the most rapid in the world. 
342. The Kingdom of Morocco is happy to see once again with you today a country that has 
skilfully opened up to globalization while at the same time keeping a rein on destabilizing aspects, 
becoming within the space of a few years the world's 10
th largest economy. 
343. India's economy has been marked by an uni nterrupted series of reforms launched over 
two decades ago, affecting in particular the fina ncial sector, debt management, regulation of the 
banking sector, and the accumulation of foreign currency reserves. 
344. These have been combined with the use of trade policy to promote industrialization, 
development and self-sufficiency, but also with one of the most dynamic services sectors, which has 
demonstrated its strength during the global economic tu rmoil, together with an agricultural sector that 
provides labour and focuses on food security and price stability.  All these measures have enabled 
India to withstand the upheavals during the economic cris is.  It managed to increase its GDP from 8 to 
8.5% for 2010-2011.  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  345. This encouraging picture nevertheless depends to a certain extent on the recovery of the 
global economy.  Moreover, the gaps in income a nd development currently noted, the challenges of 
education, health and controlling inflation, are on es which, we are convinced, India will be able to 
meet with determination and energy. 
346. In this connection, the proactive stand taken by  the Indian Government in dealing with the 
problems of the financial crisis through an amb itious recovery plan, including lower customs duties 
and subsidies, as well as increased government spendi ng, should be welcomed.  In addition, the 
Government has resolutely undertaken to con tinue the reforms intended to underpin growth, 
modernize its economic structure and combat poverty. 
347. Along the same lines, the efforts made by India in favour of dynamic development of its 
infrastructure, through implementation of the 11th Five-Year Plan to improve the urban and rural 
infrastructure, including the highway network, ports  and airports, electrifica tion and expansion of the 
irrigation and drinking water network, should also be underlined.  In view of the foregoing, my 
delegation wishes to congratulate India on the effort s made to pursue its policy of trade openness, 
economic liberalization and deve lopment without exclusion. 
348. India is an original Member of the WTO and pl ays a crucial role in the Doha negotiations.  
Like Morocco, India believes in the role of the WTO as a major overall player, in favour of stable 
rules-based international trade relations.  The openne ss policy initiated by India has led it to conclude 
ten free trade agreements and five preferential trade agreements so far. 
349. The Kingdom of Morocco attaches great interest to South-South cooperation and notes with 
satisfaction that India is its third client, but only its 15th largest supplier.  Trade between our 
two countries continues to grow, notably in the ph osphates, hotels, pharmaceutical and automobile 
sectors.  Morocco would like to see this trade grow even more. 
350. India's efforts to continue along the road to reform, modernization, development and 
integration into the global economy, in a particul arly difficult internationa l economic and financial 
context, deserve our en couragement and support. 
OMAN 
351. Oman and India have long standing historical  and cultural relations. We have multi-faceted 
relationship. India is a major trading partner of Oman. Both countries are also partners in foreign 
direct investment. Tourism and movement of natura l persons also figure importantly in their services 
trade.  Oman and India are neighbors in Asia. They are also members of a number of organizations and arrangements. Including Indian Ocean Rim. 
352. India is one of the two Asian marvels of hi gh economic growth. India’s economic and trade 
development in recent years is really remarkable and praiseworthy. The Sultanate of Oman compliments India on its successful economic and trade policies. 
353. The WTO Secretariat Report shows that India has continued to reap benefits from the process 
of trade liberalization and structural reforms. It is  noteworthy that India is providing a stable trade 
policy environment to attain its long- term and short-term goals. 
354. India is a strong advocate of the multilateral trading system. And India is committed to the 
early and successful conclusion of  Doha Round trade negotiations.  
355. We take note with satisfaction that India has been liberalizing its foreign trade regime. The 
WTO report shows that the simple average MFN tari ff rate of India has declined from 15% to 12%. WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 52  
 
  We hope that India would continue the trade liber alization programme, reduce its high bound tariffs 
and increase its binding coverage. 
356. Oman also hopes that India would take steps to make its foreign trade regime less complex by 
removing or relaxing non-tariff barriers includi ng prohibitions, licensing and restrictions. 
EL SALVADOR 
357. We should like to begin by congratulati ng the Government of India on the economic 
performance achieved since the previous Review of its trade policy in 2007, especially the establishment of a government strategy called the "11
th Five-Year Plan", whose objective is to 
improve both rural and urban infrastructure, including electric power, roads, railways, ports, airports, telecommunications, irrigation, drinking water, inter alia . 
358. In addition we note that India has continued to reap benefits from the process of trade 
liberalization and structural reform, with the e xpansion of both exports and imports commenced over 
a decade ago, factors which have helped to achieve  high GDP growth rates, and has adopted measures 
to attract FDI. 
359. In this connection, we note that India has taken a series of measures which include tax 
incentives, export promotion and credit facilitation sch emes to "neutralize" the cost of the imported 
inputs used in exports, inter alia .  As part of this government plan, India continues to promote 
competition policy by means of targeted reforms of the special law affecting mergers and acquisitions, which, inter alia , give a considerable boost to investment and reinforce the attraction that already 
existed. 
360. India and El Salvador share common features such as a large number of nationals living 
abroad, as well as a large population, which is why closer diplomatic, cooperation and friendly 
relations with my country have been  promoted and continue to be so. 
361. One of the first results of these closer relations saw El Salvador take part in various fairs in 
the Asian country, where Salvadoran textile firms e xhibited their products and, in return, India has 
participated in trade fairs in El Salvador.  This  has encouraged trade, which in recent years has 
focused on El Salvador's exports such as coffee, wood articles, inter alia , while imports from India 
include pharmaceuticals, organic chemicals, dental products, special fabrics, etc. 
362. In this connection, we should mention that India is an important niche market, with 
El Salvador's principal exports being wood, cashew nuts, paper and paperboard  products, and balsam.  
In return, El Salvador's main imports from Indi a are temperature-control equipment and appliances, 
quad bikes and three-wheeler bikes, medicines for human use, antibiotics, penicillin and its 
by-products, denim fabrics, as well as many other products. 
363. In the exercise we are undertaking, after havi ng received the reports, we have seen that for 
India ongoing education plays a key role in its trade policy and as proof of this the Indian Government 
continues to promote economic liberalization and the creation of technological parks.  In turn, recognizing that people are the end goal for its policies, in 2010 it launched a National Skill 
Development Policy, which sets an ambitious targ et of giving nearly 500 million persons improved 
skills.  Through this project, India hopes that by 2022 its citizens may have access to decent 
employment and ensure India's compe titiveness in the global labour market. 
364. The services sector has been the key driver of economic growth, together with manufacturing, 
but despite the efforts made we note that th ere is room for improvement by eliminating  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  over-regulation and defining more tran sparent trade and investment regimes in order to make them 
more attractive. 
365. As is the case for El Salvador, the agricultura l sector plays a key role in the national economy 
with the main crops being rice, wheat, sugar can e, cotton and oilseeds.  As the world's largest 
producer and consumer of tea, India has been maki ng efforts to improve the productivity of its tea 
plantations and of other horticultura l crops, which is expected to increas e rapidly.  With regard to the 
agricultural negotiations in the WTO, El Salvador and India play an active role in the G-33, whose 
goal in the negotiations is to identify the oppor tunities needed to protect their food security. 
366. In the current Doha Development Round, India h as advocated an open, equitable, predictable, 
non-discriminatory and rules-based multilateral trading system.  Like El Salvador, it has emphasized 
the need for the world trade regime to respond to the needs of developing countries, considering that 
the Doha Round of trade negotiations in the WTO provides a historic opportunity to remedy distortions in global trade and to improve and strengthen the rules for our countries. 
367. During the current negotiations, India has emphasi zed that the development dimension is at 
the heart of the Doha Development Agenda, st ressing how important it is that decisions be 
commensurate with the economic capacities, developm ent levels and needs of developing Members.  
Priority should be given to responding to the t echnical and financial assistance needs for capacity 
building in developing countries, in order to achieve truly meaningful results from further trade liberalization efforts.  To achieve this, India an d other developing countries such as mine must 
reinforce our negotiating capacity, presenting a common front in this Round in order to protect the 
interests of their nascent and vulnerable industri es, including micro, small and medium-sized 
enterprises, employment-intensive sectors, industri es employing socially and economically vulnerable 
groups such as women, traditional artisans and fisher men, as well as industries in rural, semi-urban, 
economically disadvantaged and geographically inaccessible regions. 
368. Lastly, we must congratulate India on focusing its government policy on sustainable and 
inclusive development, with significant attention bein g paid to rural development, skills development, 
innovation and financial inclusion.  India has faced challenges in seve ral areas, namely, physical and 
social infrastructure, inflation, energy security, agricultural growth and food security.  Despite the 
foregoing, and based on the rightful recognition of the human person, India will continue to take 
measures to contribute towards its people's grow th and development in all spheres of life. 
HONDURAS 
 369. This Review of India's trade policy is marked by the global economic crisis as the major part 
of the period reviewed was during the crisis.  De spite this, the impact suffered by India has been 
moderate in comparison with other economies and is the result of reforms in the financial sector, strong domestic demand and its solid economic bases. 
370. We note with satisfaction that India has gi ven priority to sustainable and inclusive 
development, rural deve lopment and innovation, inter alia .  We also note from its report that India is 
fully aware of the challenges it will have to face in various areas in order to meet its economic 
development objectives, including in particular the physi cal and social infrastructure, inflation, energy 
security and agricultural growth. 
371. With regard to trade, we should like to emph asize that India has known how to make use of 
the benefits afforded by the trade liberalizati on process and achieve high rates of GDP growth, and 
has also used trade policy measures to reach  objectives and encourage economic growth, boost 
industrialization, development and self-sufficiency. WT/TPR/M/249 
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  372. In connection with FDI, the Secretariat repor t highlights the measures adopted by India to 
attract investment, gradually increasing the number of sectors in which FDI is authorized and lessening the sectoral restrictions.  As far as customs procedures are concerned, we note that trade facilitation measures are being applied, with the cr eation of an electronic customs clearance system 
and a risk management scheme already functioning.  Lastly, one important change to which we wish 
to draw attention is India's shift towards lower tariffs. 
373. Regarding bilateral relations between India and Honduras, in 2010 India was one of the 
25 major trading partners for our exports, even though  our trade balance records a deficit with India.  
In the future, we hope that relations between our two countries will become even closer in various 
areas of interest. 
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 
 
374. With regard to macroeconomic performance,  we note with satisfaction that India has 
continued to reap benefits from the trade liberali zation and structural reform initiated two decades 
ago, currently making it one of the economies with the highest rate of GDP growth.  During the 
periods 2006-2007 and 2010-2011, the average annua l rate of growth in GDP was over 8%.  
Moreover, India has successfully confronted the global economic crisis, taking incentive measures, 
whose main tool has been government spending.  Ne vertheless, it must be emphasized that there has 
been no reduction in the fiscal deficit and, on the contrary, government finance has deteriorated, 
partly due to the incentive measures.  In this conn ection, in 2009-2010 the fiscal deficit was 9.5% of 
GDP.  Accordingly, we welcome the tax reform that  is being implemented in order to reduce customs 
and excise duties and rely more on direct taxes, particularly corporate income tax and on service tax 
revenue, which should streamline the tax regime and raise income, thereby helping to stabilize public 
finances. 
375. We note that the services sector makes the largest  contribution to GDP, with 56%, and over 
the period reviewed was the main driving force for economic growth, par ticularly the financial 
services, hotels, transport and communication subsectors.  Despite the high level of capital formation 
at 36% of GDP, the report highlights the inadequ acy of the infrastructure, which considerably 
constrains India's economic development.  Desp ite the efforts made by the Government, public 
investment alone is probably insufficient to address India's infrastructure needs, hence an increase in 
private investment in infrastructure is advocated, and we agree with this, urging India to take it into 
consideration. 
376. We also view positively India's continued impl ementation of trade facilitation measures with 
the introduction of an electronic system for cust oms clearance, but despite the implementation of 
these measures, the Secretariat report indicates that India's import regime remains complex, especially 
its licensing and permit system and its tariff structure, so we urge the authorities to review the licensing and tariff structure regimes in order to make them more transparent, straightforward and 
predictable.  On the other hand, we welcome the reduction in the average MFN tariff, which fell from 
15.1% to 12% over the period reviewed. 
377. It caught our attention that the Secretariat report mentions that India is one of the 
WTO Members that makes the most use of anti-dum ping measures.  During the period under review, 
it imposed 207 anti-dumping measures, compared w ith 177 for the previous period, which is a 
sizeable increase.  India has also imposed various saf eguard measures.  We urge the Indian authorities 
to make more rational use of remedial trade measu res so as not to prejudice trade with its trading 
partners.  WT/TPR/M/249 
 Page 55 
 
 
  378. We note with satisfaction that in the area of intellectual property, since the previous TPR, 
India has taken several initiatives to modernize its IPR administration and continues its efforts to 
enforce IPRs, on which we congratulate the Indian authorities. 
379. Over the past decade, the Dominican Republic and India have had closer trade, technical 
cooperation and cultural relations.  Since 2005, trade has increased by some 300%.  In February 2011, 
President Leonel Fernández visited this powerful c ountry and last month, with the assistance of the 
Indian Government, an information technology centr e was inaugurated in the second largest city in 
the Dominican Republic.  We also welcome India's valuable technical cooperation within the G-33. 
JAMAICA 
380. Over the last decade or so, India has emerged as one of the leading and fastest growing 
economies in the world.  It has become the world' s fourth largest economy in purchasing power parity 
behind the U.S., China and Japan.  The economy h as been growing at an average 8.4% between 
2006-07 and 2010-11 despite the global economic crisis  which did not have as deep an impact on 
India as on most other countries.  The fact that I ndia weathered the crisis so remarkably well was 
largely due to sound macro-economic and financial policies, structural  reforms and a careful process 
of unilateral trade liberalization that the author ities have been undertaking since the 1990s.  Policy 
prudence and the implementation of an important  stimulus package consisting of increased 
government spending, lower excise and customs dutie s and certain support measures have facilitated a 
return to near normal growth in 2009-10 making India an important force in the challenging effort to achieve global recovery.  Prospects for further gr owth are strong as according to the World Economic 
Outlook 10.4% growth for India in 2010 made it the fastest growing economy for the first time.  The 
IMF has projected continued high levels of growth into the medium term. 
381. Despite the successes, however, the Indian author ities face numerous challenges in sustaining 
strong growth performance.  These include, dealing with increasing inflation, achieving fiscal consolidation, addressing the infrastructural defi cit, capitalizing on its demographic dividend and 
promoting inclusive growth. 
382. The authorities have been focused on achieving fi scal consolidation given the deterioration in 
the consolidated fiscal deficit from 8.5% of GDP in 2008-09 to 9.5% in 2009-10.  A reduction in the fiscal deficit and achieving fiscal c onsolidation will be critical cons idering the growth targets India 
has set itself, including those relating to infrast ructural development.  The authorities have 
acknowledged that the infrastructure deficit remains on e of the major constraints to India's growth and 
have taken steps to encourage greater private sector  participation in bridging the infrastructure gap.  
Infrastructural development and expansion will also be  critical in revitalizing certain key sectors, such 
as manufacturing and agriculture, which have been lagg ing behind the services sector in terms of their 
contribution to overall GDP. 
383. Jamaica has seen a similar shifting in its economic profile with services emerging as the 
dominant sector in our own economy.  We are interest ed in the approach India is taking to revitalize 
those crucial sectors that have somehow been left behi nd.  We are also interested in the public private 
partnership approach in infrastructur e development that has been proposed. 
384. At a time when many economies are contendi ng with the challenges forced by aging 
populations, India has one of the youngest populations in the world.  The Government Report indicates that the population in the working age group  of 15-64 is projected to increase from 62.9% in 
2006 to 68.4% by 2026.  India's policies aimed at empowering its young population, including 
through education, health care and skills development,  will be critical to ensuring that the large young 
work force contribute to the expansion of the Indian  economy.  We have taken careful note of the fact 
that the Indian authorities have set the laudable goal of ensuring that growth is not only rapid and WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 56  
 
  sustainable but that it should also be inclusive and improve the quality of life for all its citizens.  
Despite its accelerated economic growth, and a lthough India has made progress on most of the 
Millennium Development Goals poverty remains a major challenge.  We also acknowledge the 
establishment of the ambitious Unique Identificati on Project, designed to ensure that certain basic 
welfare services are delivered to Indian citizens in an effective manner, particularly to the poor and 
vulnerable.  We recognize the enormity of the policy challenges faced in addressing endemic poverty 
and hope that this initiative and other programs th at target poverty eradication will achieve great 
success. 
385. As the Reports have recognized India plays a very active role in all aspects of the WTO 
programme, including the DDA negotiations.  India con tinues to demonstrate a firm commitment to a 
fair and equitable multilateral trading system and, in  particular to assisting that is responsive to the 
particular interests and concerns of developing and least developed countries.  Jamaica commends 
India for being at the forefront as a developing country of moving to extend duty-free quota-free treatment to LDCs.   
386. Jamaica has excellent bilateral relations with India spanning the trade, security, social and 
economic spheres.  And India also cooperates closel y with us in our regional integration efforts 
through the Caribbean Community.  Our region is one in which India plays a significant role in trade 
and economic activities.  With a balance of bilatera l trade in India's favour, my Government is eager 
to broaden the level and scope of  economic cooperation with India a nd to strengthen our investment 
links in the future.  Over the years, Jamaica h as also benefited from technical assistance from India 
through the Indian Technical and Economic Coope ration Programme, including areas such as ICT, 
human resource development, micro enterprise developmen t, agriculture, and other areas.          
NIGERIA 
387. At the bilateral level, Nigeria and India have maintained cordial trade and non-trade 
relationship. Both Nigeria and India are members of G20 and G33 and shares the view that modalities 
on Special Products and SSM must be coherent, simple  and substantial in orde r to adequately address 
the problems of food security, livelihood security a nd rural development in developing countries. 
Though, Nigeria enjoys a favourable balance of trade with India exporting mainly crude petroleum and some consumables, it is pertinent to note that th e two countries have not been able to explore the 
full potentials of their trade and commercial relati ons, particularly in the non-oil sector. Over the 
years, various lines of credit from the EXIM Bank of  India have been granted to the NEXIM Bank of 
Nigeria aimed at facilitating trade between the two countries. 
388. India and Nigeria share similar challenges such as physical and social infrastructure deficit, 
inflation, energy, security, slow agricultural gr owth and food security. To overcome these challenges 
efforts must be made through initiatives focused on sustainable and inclusive development with 
significant attention given to rural development, sk ill development, innovation and financial inclusion 
aimed at ensuring a smooth road to growth and development. 
389. According to the Government Report, India faces challenges in several areas of its economy 
namely physical and social infrastructures, infla tion, energy security, agricultural growth and food 
security. But the Government has taken various polic y initiatives to tackle such challenges which are 
determined in its efforts to overcome them to ensu re a smooth road to growth and development. As 
indicated in the Secretariat Report, that all the ma jor macroeconomic variable s, namely, GDP, exports 
and imports showed a decline in 2009-10, the Indi an economy presents positive potential for massive 
economic progress if properly harnessed. Nigeria notes with commendation, the resilience of the 
Indian economy and its ability to cope with th e global downturn, despite  greater openness due to 
efficient adoption and implementation of a range of reforms, including financial sector reforms, 
pragmatic banking regulations and s upervision, a cautious approach  towards the liberalization of  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  capital flows, especially short-term debt, building up of ample foreign exchange reserves, coupled 
with strong domestic demand and underlying strong macroeconomic fundamentals. India's increased 
openness has enhanced productivity and competitiveness,  as reflected in India's export performance in 
recent years. 
390. Nigeria notes from the Secretariat Report that India uses trade policy actively, sometimes as 
an instrument to attain its long-term goals, such  as promoting overall economic growth, also fostering 
industrialization, development, or self-sufficiency. India aims at providing a stable trade policy environment to attain such goals which is worthy  of commendation. Another area that would interest 
Members is India's strong advocate of the Multilateral trading system and how it has been historically 
a party to few regional agreements. However, d espite its reservations, regionalism has increasingly 
become an element of its overall trade policy object ive of enhanced market access for exports which 
is evidenced by the seven prefer ential agreements it signed durin g the period under review and the 
negotiation of other agreements. 
391. Furthermore, Nigeria notes that during the four  year period under Review, India's exports 
grew at a compound annual growth rate of 18.1%, while imports grew by 17.2%.  India's share in 
global exports registered a small increase from 0.9% in 2006 to 1.3% in 2009.  Her share in world 
imports also increased from 1.3% in 2006 to 2% in 2 009, this is an evidence of enormous potential for 
growth coupled with the countries continued wide ning and deepening of global engagement. India 
remained an active participant in efforts to further liberalize trade, especially in the multilateral trade 
negotiations in the WTO.  As a major player, in order to re-energise the Doha Round of negotiations, 
India took the initiative to host an informal mini-Ministerial meeting in New Delhi in 
September 2009, which had a positive impact on the process of negotiations. At the home front, 
India's ongoing transparency and trade facilitation e fforts, including autonomous  reduction of tariffs, 
is highly commendable.  
392. As the world economy has begun to stabilize in the aftermath of the global crisis, inflation has 
re-emerged as a major concern, particularly in the fast recovering developing economies, including 
India. Another major challenge facing India is that of infrastructure deficit which constraints India's 
growth. Economic growth has outpaced the growth  of infrastructure, thereby placing strains on 
physical infrastructure and accentuating the infrast ructure deficit. The performance of other sectors 
like agriculture and industry is also dependent on  the quality of infrastructure. The Delegation of 
Nigeria would like to see India's Food safety and Sta ndards Act introduced in 2006, come to force in 
order to deal with SPS and other related issues.  
393. In addition, the delegation of Nigeria is of the view that, in order to increase farm productivity 
in a sustained way and for creating adequate infrast ructure for transport, storage and distribution of 
agricultural produce, there must be sustained increase in investment by both public and private sector, 
in the economy.  In this direction, it is commendabl e that India has evolved a liberal and transparent 
policy on FDI which is complemented by a moderate  and stable tax regime with Tax Holidays and 
other special incentives made available for investment  in key sectors such as infrastructure. A single-
window facility in the form of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) made available to foreign 
investors seeking approval of investment propo sals would enhance investor's confidence.   
394. The rising incidence of non-tariff barriers, in  the form of SPS measures and TBT has emerged 
as a major trade concern.  New SPS and TBT-related measures, very often have market access implications. It is, therefore, important that th ese measures are imposed without causing unjustifiable 
social and economic cost on exporting countries. 
395. We also note from the Secretariat Report that enforcement of intellectual property rights in 
India (except at the borders) is under the purview of  state governments. Enforcement is carried out by 
the police for domestic cases, and by the police and customs for imports and exports. Nigeria at this WT/TPR/M/249 
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  juncture, would be interested to know the efforts that the Government of India is making towards 
stopping the exportation of counte rfeits and substandard goods to  some African countries, in 
particular Nigeria. 
396. Last but not the least, we wish to commend India for its active role in the south-south 
cooperation issues and its leading role at th e Global System Trade Preferences meetings. 
ZAMBIA 
397. My delegation has reviewed both Reports and liste ned with keen interest to the remarks and 
introductory statements made on India's trade policy and wish to highlight among others the following 
salient points.  There is no doubt that India is an important partner and player in the global economy 
and one of the fastest growing economies.  We also note that this growth and the resilience that India 
has shown is a result of a set of government ta ilored measures including the steady and calibrated 
macroeconomic reforms, prudent management of the financial sector undertaken over the past two 
decades as well as its structural composition, largely dominated by export of manufactured goods, which account for 63% of India's export basket and the recovery of the global economy has also been instrumental in India's quick turnaround.  The experience of India offers important lessons on how to 
cope with the crisis situation especially now that the global economy is threatened with yet another 
recession. 
398. As regards the multilateral trading system, my  delegation wishes to commend the delegation 
of India for their constructive and continued engagement in the negotiations under the DDA and 
overall implementation of the results of the Uruguay Round.  In particular, I wish to commend India 
for taking leadership among developing country partners on issues relating to least developed 
countries as witnessed, inter alia , by adopting a market access scheme offering 85% of India's tariff 
lines duty-free and quota free with an additional preferential access on 9% on tariff lines.  My 
delegation is pleased to inform this house that Zambia hosted in May 2010 a high level Ministerial 
segment in collaboration with the Indian Govern ment and UNCTAD, which facilitated interactive 
discussion on India's market access scheme.  Zambia h as since signed the letter of intent to facilitate 
market access under the scheme.  We look forwar d to the speedy implementation of the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Declaration in favour of LDCs among those Members that have not done so. 
399. My delegation is also pleased to note that India has continued to undertake trade related 
reforms including in the area of customs procedur es and other trade facilitation measures, which are 
topical issues under discussions in the DDA.  It is my delegation's expectation that India would continue on this path of reform in order to ensu re that small economies like mine are facilitated in 
accessing its market. 
400. Further, I wish to state that India, as an emerging source of investment, has made important 
strides on the African continent.  With the establishment of the India-African Forum Summit, the 
trade and investments ties between Africa and India ha ve and continue to be strengthened.  According 
to the joint statement of India-African Ministers of  Trade released during a meeting held in May 2011, 
the bilateral trade between Africa and India was in  excess to US$46 billion in 2010 and is projected to 
reach US$70 billion by 2015.  There also have be en increased Africa-India investments, which 
reached US$90 billion in 2010.  These are indeed commendable strides, which remain critical 
cornerstones for building Africa's productive capacity. 
401. On the bilateral front, India has and continues to  be an important trade and investment partner 
for Zambia in as far as south-south cooperation is co ncerned.  With regard to trade, India is among 
Zambia's traditional export market for non-ferrous  metals, ores (namely copper and cobolt), semi-
precious stones and raw cotton.  In 2009-10, Za mbia's exports amounted to US$102 million which 
was a fall from the US$208 million recorded in 2007- 08 due to the financial crisis.  Imports from  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  India include pharmaceutical products, machinery, transport equipment, fabrics, chemicals and 
electronic goods. 
402. Regarding investment, there has been an incr ease in both actual and pledged investment by 
Indian firms in a number of sectors including mining,  manufacturing, agriculture, transport, energy, 
telecommunications, banking and health.  In the period 2006-10 investment pledged amounted to 
US$2.2 billion with total employment figures of 12, 974.  In more specific terms, the following are 
some of the highlights on India's investments in Zambia. 
403. In the mining sector, Vedanta Resource group invested an initial US$48 million in Konkola 
Copper mines in 2004 and has since expanded its inv estment with the launch of new projects:  the 
Konkola deep mining project, the ultramodern Ncha nga smelter and sulphuric acid plant, whose 
combined investment is estimated at US$2.2 billi on;  the recapitalization of Zambia's coal mine, 
Maamba Colleries with an investment of US$108 milli on;  and green field investment in manganese 
mining of US$20 million and a planned investment in the processing plant of about US$300 million 
in the central part of Zambia. 
404. In the manufacturing sector, Melcome Group investment in 2009 invested a total of US$10 
million in a mobile assembly plant in Lusaka;  TA TA's planned investment in the acquired leather 
tannery of about US$4 million;  pledged invest ment by RJ Corporation of US$30 million over a 
period of six years in constructing a manufacturi ng plant for Pepsi and other fruit drinks;  Trade 
King's investment of US$125 million in the first ever in tegrated steel plant in Zambia which is already 
operational;  and the vehicle and bicycle assembly plant in Ndola with total investment of US$10 
million. 
405. In the telecommunications sector, India has invested in one of the telecommunications 
companies an Indian based firm Bharti Airtel is  running this.  In the banking sector, India has 
partnered with Zambia with an op erational bank, Indo-Zambia, a join t venture with 60% share held by 
three Indian based banks.  In the energy sector, TA TA has entered into some cooperation arrangement 
with Zambia's electricity supply company, and in the hospitality we have approximately US$8 million 
which was invested to renovate the Taj Pamodzi Hotel. 
406. More recently, India has been collaborating with Zambia on possibilities of establishing 
public private partnerships in various sectors of th e economy.  My delegation is fully confident that 
India's strengthened trade and investment coopera tion coupled with individual LDCs economic policy 
reforms and support from other c ooperating partners would no doubt contribute to meeting the set 
goals and objectives outlined in the Istanbul plan of action. 
407. Last but not least, my delegation wishes to take this opportunity to stress the importance of 
safeguarding the WTO as an institution that holds toge ther the global trading system through its rules 
based mechanism.  As we prepare for MC8, we shou ld in the remaining weeks ahead define in more 
concrete terms tangible outcomes, particularly in area s that concern LDCs in order to give the needed 
confidence to the global community on our comm itment to address the needs to small and weak 
economies.  Overloading the MC8 agenda with i ssues that will further constrain the effective 
participation of small delegations in the name of non-DDA issues may not be an appropriate way 
forward.  For us, MC8 should spell out a clear di stinction between the DDA on one hand and issues 
affecting the regular functions of the institutions on the other hand.  We can and must prove to the 
global community that we are able to rise above our differences and tackle the most difficult and 
pressing issues that we have emerged in the course of our negotiations. WT/TPR/M/249 
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  GUINEA 
408. The documents presented for our review have en abled us to see more clearly the progress 
made by India since the previous review, but also to learn about the challenges faced by one of the 
most dynamic economies in the world.  For the Re public of Guinea, the progress made by India is 
proof of its enduring commitment to greater trade liberalization and fulfilment of its commitments 
within the World Trade Organization. 
409. At the regional level, India and Africa si gned a framework for cooperation at the 
second India-Africa Summit, held in Addis Ab aba on 24 and 25 May 2011.  This cooperation 
framework covers economic and political coope ration, science, technology, research and 
development, capacity building in the areas of health, education, tourism, energy and the 
environment, as well as infrastructure and communication. 
410. With regard to subregional cooperation, in  May 2011 India also signed a protocol of 
agreement with the Economic Community of West  African States (ECOWAS), to which Guinea 
belongs, in order to strengthen multi-sectoral coope ration in several key areas.  This agreement 
provides, inter alia , for the establishment and strengthening of relations in the banking, food and 
agricultural sectors, construction and communicati on.  The framework agreement will also cover 
areas such as metal working, mechanics, energy, textiles, leather, transport and electronics. 
411. As to bilateral relations betw een India and the Republic of Guinea, cooperation has not yet 
reached the level hoped for by Guinea.  Trade rela tions between India and Guinea take the form of 
some imports of manufactures and textiles, but it shoul d be noted that Indian investors are starting to 
show an interest in Guinea in order to see to what  extent they can invest there, particularly in 
agriculture and mining. 
412. Recently, when the Guinean Government launched its " Guinée Verte " programme or progress 
towards mechanization of the agricultura l sector, it received agricultural machinery 
comprising 100 Sonalika tractors, 140 rotary cu ltivators, 100 farm trailers and 100 seed drills 
from the Indian company International Tractors Li mited.  The representative of this company, 
Mr Rajeev Kunar Pandey, took the opportunity to re iterate its determination to build assembly plants 
in Guinea under a win-win partnership. 
413. Guinea is the second largest exporter of bauxite in  the world after Australia, with two thirds 
of the world's bauxite reserves, and 40 billion tonnes of bauxite, so Alchimie Métal is also interested 
in developing cooperation in mining with Guinea. 
414. This is the opportunity for my delegation to i nvite India to consider how trade relations 
between our two countries could be  expanded and diversified to a greater extent.  This objective 
would be served by the effective implementati on of cooperation agreements between India and 
Africa, on the one hand, and between India and ECOWAS, on the other. 
415. We also congratulate India on its proactive role in the Doha Development Round 
negotiations.  My delegation wishes to thank India for its decision to open up duty-free and quota-free 
market access for close to 90% of tariff lines for African LDCs.  We hope that India will pursue its 
liberalization efforts in favour of LDCs and give further incentives to invest ors in Guinea's industrial 
sector.  I should not like to conclude my statemen t without congratulating the Indian Government on 
the economic performance it has achieved in recent years.  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  V. REPLIES BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF INDIA AND ADDITIONAL 
COMMENTS 
416. When we came before you on the last occasion, we promised you that India would push ahead 
with its autonomous, custom-tailored reform progra mme. We have indeed done that and I would like 
to thank many of you who have recognised a nd commended the progress we have made. We have 
several challenges to overcome, but I believe, as Amb assador Aran said, that India is truly in the 
spring of economic growth. He also brought out lu cidly the dualism and extreme contrasts in the 
development and growth process of our country, a fact that greatly adds to the complexity of policy-making in any domain, including trade.  
417. We have listened carefully to your interventi ons and the many issues you have raised and 
have provided detailed responses to your written queries. I trust you have  had the time to go through 
these. In my response today I will deal with some  of the recurring themes that came up in your 
interventions. 
418. It was gratifying to hear so many of you reporting significant increases in your country's trade 
with India. Nearly all of you, including our part ners in regional trade ag reements, have commended 
India's openness and continued liberalisation. I am , therefore, somewhat puzzled at the criticism 
leveled at us by some Members about the inadequa te market access offered by India. Clearly, there 
are widely varying yardsticks for measuring market access. 
419. Our increasing merchandise trade deficit speaks for itself and has an eloquent story to tell. 
Year after year, our imports have outpaced exports . We have a very large trade deficit which as a 
percentage of the GDP is one of the highest in the world.  
420. To maintain India's growth trajectory and ease domestic supply constraints, a continued high 
growth rate of imports is unavoida ble. The merchandise trade deficit is projected to increase to 11.5% 
of the GDP in 2013-14. This is certainly a cau se for concern. While earnings from the export of 
services will grow over the next few years, it is unlik ely to offset the merchandise trade deficit. In the 
circumstances it is imperative that our trade partne rs keep their services market open in the sectors of 
our interest. 
421. The Secretariat's Report already draws attention to the autonomous reduction in India's tariffs 
over the years. Some of you have expressed c oncern about the large gap between our bound and 
applied rates on agricultural produc ts. This is nothing but a reflec tion of our steady and continued 
autonomous tariff liberalization. Judge  us by what we have  done over the years and not by the latitude 
we have. 
422. During the four years since the last TPR we ha ve had to make adjustments in the tariffs on 
some agricultural commodities in the face of high vol atility in food prices. In most cases tariffs have 
been brought down and have stayed down. In a few instances they have been raised again but never 
above their original levels. Please show me a single tariff line where we have us ed "water" to increase 
tariffs. 
423. Some of you have labelled India's import li censing regime as complex. Import licensing 
affects only a few restricted items primarily on groun ds of protection of human, animal and plant life, 
and the environment. The licensing regime is ope n and transparent. Licences are granted on a 
non-discriminatory basis. The relevant regulatio ns are available in the public domain and the 
Directorate General of Foreign Trade acts as th e nodal agency. Thus, the reference to onerous 
restrictions is not clear.   WT/TPR/M/249 
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  424. We have used export restrictions on occasi on for purposes of domestic supply management 
but these have been purely on a temporary basis. The ban on the export of rice and wheat had to be extended in 2009 due to a dislocation in production,  and again in 2010 due to the severest drought in 
the country in the last 40 years. I would like to inform you that the export of wheat and non-basmati rice is now completely free. The export of basmati ri ce is and has always been free.  Restrictions on 
cotton exports were imposed for only a brief period l ast year.  Cotton yarn exports have been made 
completely free. Similarly, cotton is also freely exportable.  
425. Some of you have expressed concern about s ubsidised interest ra tes for exporters. The 
Reserve Bank of India replaced the Benchmark Prime Lending Rate system with the Base Rate System with effect from 1 July 2010. Under this  system, no bank can lend below the base rate. And, 
banks are free to choose any methodology to arrive at  that rate which must be disclosed. Thus, export 
credit in India is at commercial and market oriented rates. 
426. Our export promotion schemes are based on the concept of duty neutralisation and providing 
a level playing field. We review these schemes regularly. The Duty Drawback scheme for rebating 
input taxes is being rationalised, and this process will be completed shortly.  Duty rebate schemes, on 
which some Members have expressed concern, are bei ng revisited. In addition,  we have decided to 
impose a Minimum Alternate Tax of 18.5% on Special  Economic Zone develope rs and units. This too 
will provide a level playing field. 
427. The other schemes that assist exporters are me ant to neutralise the miscellaneous tax burden 
that domestic industry bears, which is not bei ng compensated through any other instrument. These 
include taxes such as sales tax on petroleum produc ts, electricity duty and the Central Sales Tax. 
428. Many of you have expressed concern about I ndia's recourse to trade remedies. Anti-dumping 
measures are legitimate instruments against unfair trade practices. If we 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. 
429. Let me tell you what we have not done so fa r. We have not imposed a single anti-subsidy 
measure, which does not mean that very many Memb ers, with deep pockets, do not use subsidies as 
part of their trade policy. 
430. It was mentioned that India has 12 safeguard measu res in force. However the fact is that as on 
date, there is only one safeguard duty in force. In  the wake of the economic crisis, we did see a spurt 
in application of safeguard inves tigations in 2009. A total of 14 app lications were received but in 9 
cases, investigations were either terminated or a decision was taken not to impose any safeguard duty. 
Duties were imposed only in five cases and these too ha ve since been withdrawn. Moreover, India has 
never taken recourse to quantitative restrictions as safeguard measures. 
431. We have provided detailed written replies re lating to anti-dumping investigations. I would 
like to reiterate that our investigations are transpar ent and fair and subjected to strict scrutiny. As a 
rule we only impose the lesser duty and not the fu ll dumping margin as is done by some Members. 
This underscores the fact that trade reme dies are not used as a protectionist tool. 
432. I must confess that we were a little surprised by the observations of some Members that the 
number of sectors prohibited for FDI had increased significantly during the period under review. The reality is quite different. The UNCTAD World Invest ment Report 2011, in its analysis of the global 
trends of FDI inflows, has reported India as the third most attractive location for FDI for 2011-13. 
Surely we must be doing something right!  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  433. The continuing thrust, during the period since the last review, has been on making the FDI 
policy more liberal and investment friendly. The FDI guidelines have been significantly rationalized, 
simplified and consolidated, with the aim of pr oviding a single policy platform for reference of 
foreign investors. A large number of new sectors, su ch as petroleum and natural gas and civil aviation 
were either opened up to foreign investment or si gnificantly liberalized during this period. Some of 
the important changes include dispensing with the condition of prior approval in case of existing joint 
ventures/technical collaborations in the "same field" and permitting FDI in Limited Liability 
Partnerships.  
434. While the FDI policy continues to be simplifie d and rationalized, another area that we are 
working on is streamlining and simplifying the bus iness environment. The setting up of an entity, 
named "Invest India" as a single window facilitator, for overseas investors, is a significant reform. We 
are making concerted efforts to make regulations co nducive to business. Further, the Government has 
initiated the implementation of an e-business project to provide online registration and payment services to investors and business houses.  
435. Some Members have indicated that the Govern ment needs to adopt a proactive stance to 
address the infrastructure shortcomings for a sustai ned growth momentum. India needs infrastructure 
investments of over US$1 trillion over the next five years. In order to address this mammoth need the Government has fashioned a number of policy ini tiatives. To attract more foreign funds in the 
medium to long term the Government has announced that it would create special vehicles in the form 
of notified infrastructure debt funds. The interest payments on the borrowings of these funds would be 
subjected to a reduced withholding ta x rate of 5% instead of the curren t rate of 20% and the income of 
such funds would be exempt from tax. We are encouraging increased re liance on Public Private 
Partnerships (PPPs) and also have put in place a policy and regulatory framework for PPPs for all 
infrastructure sectors that can be commercialized. The FII limit on investments in corporate bonds has been raised to US$40 billion. Moreover, 100% FDI is  allowed in most of the infrastructure sectors 
such as roads and highways, ports, airports and power. 
436. A number of initiatives have been taken to e nhance IP protection and enforcement. Changes 
are proposed in the Copyright and Trademark Acts th at would enhance protection to IPRs in digital 
technology particularly with regard to the dissemina tion of protected material over digital networks. 
These have been supplemented by administrative as well as judicial measures to strengthen the IPR 
regime.  
437. The provisions on IP protection in these laws ar e further supplemented by border measures to 
prevent the import of goods involving copyright piracy and counterfeit trademarks. Effective 
enforcement during the period 2005-08 has resulted in prosecution of more than 30,000 persons in 
about 25,000 cases. More than 6, 000 convictions have been obtai ned and 35,000 people have been 
arrested. Another initiative taken by Indian Customs is the facility for online registration by the right holders through the web based Automatic Recorda tion and Targeting for IPR Protection System.  
438. A National Manufacturing Policy is at an advanced st age of formulation.  Its intent is to raise 
the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25% by 2022  and create 100 million additional jobs. The policy 
aims to improve the business environment, enable  easy technology acquisition and development, 
provide access to capital for small and medium enterp rises and enhance the role of the private sector 
in skill development. 
439. We are reaping the benefits of financial sector  reforms initiated during the early 1990s. In a 
continuation of this process, a range of legislation awaits Parliamentary approval. Together they cover 
a wide canvas of reform in various sectors includi ng insurance, banking, pension, higher education, 
mining, postal and courier services. The law relating to  land acquisition is being modified to expedite WT/TPR/M/249 
Page 64  
 
  the process of land acquisition. The Companies Act is being amended to make India a more business-
friendly destination. 
440. India has a vibrant telecommunications sector with a growth rate of 45% in recent years. This 
has been facilitated by liberal policies that provide easy market access and a fair regulatory 
framework for offering telecom services to Indian co nsumers at affordable prices. This market access 
has been utilized by telecom operators from vari ous countries. While we are committed to providing 
market access, in view of th e sensitivity of these telecom networks, we cannot and will not 
compromise national security. 
441. Banking and other financial services are also high on the reform agenda to strengthen the 
banking sector, increase its competitiveness and promote financial inclusion. Given what has 
happened in the financial world over the last few year s, extreme care has to be exercised in building a 
robust banking system. While we welcome foreign investment in this sector, under no circumstances 
would India like to be saddled with sub-prime banks. 
442. To foster greater competition and ensure financial inclusion, the Reserve Bank of India 
envisages the issue of licences to a few more new banks in the private sector. A discussion paper on 
the entry of new banks in the private sector and draft guidelines were recently brought out.  The 
Reserve Bank of India gives a single class of banking licence to foreign banks which allows them to carry on both retail and wholesale banking. RBI h as on 21 January 2011 issued a discussion paper on 
presence of foreign banks in India, inviting comme nts and suggestions from all stakeholders, after 
consideration of which, guidelines are being framed. 
443. Procurement of high tech items and high valu e tenders, above US$50,000 are generally open 
to international bidders. Further, major reforms are on the anvil for increasing coverage, improving 
transparency and efficiency and better enforcement, which are triggered by do mestic concerns related 
to enhancing value for money. An omnibus procuremen t law applicable to the entire country and to all 
procuring entities, including Public Sector Enterpri ses, is being deliberated upon. There appears to be 
a consensus that the rules under this law should become applicable across the board and open to 
judicial scrutiny. 
444. Measures being contemplated to improve tr ansparency and efficiency in government 
procurement include the establishment of a public procurement portal for compulsorily publishing all 
tender enquires, making available tender documents a nd pre-disclosure of evaluation parameters. This 
portal will also be used for tracking complaints , representations and grievances. An end-to-end 
e-procurement system will also be made com pulsory for all large procurements. Engineering 
Procurement and Construction (EPC) or "turn-key" contracts are proposed for civil works and projects 
to leverage the strengths and efficiency of the private sector. 
445. Tax reform continues. Indirect tax reforms aim at simplification and rationalisation of the tax 
structure as well as removal of the cascading effect of taxes. India proposes to introduce a 
comprehensive Goods and Service Tax (GST) to repl ace the existing system of domestic taxes both at 
the Centre and the States. The GST will subsume ma ny taxes levied by the Centre, including excise 
duty, additional excise duty, service tax, additional customs duty, special additional duty, Central surcharges and cesses. At the State level, among ot hers, it will subsume State value-added tax/sales 
tax, entertainment tax, luxury tax, State cesses and surcharges. The Government has introduced a 
Constitutional Amendment Bill in Parliament in Fe bruary 2011 to enable levy of this tax. 
Implementation of the GST would be a major step towards simplifying and rationalising the indirect 
tax structure in India. 
446. The Government is also committed to simplifyi ng and rationalising direct  taxes. The proposed 
Direct Taxes Code seeks to simplify, consolidate and integrate all direct tax laws, namely, income tax,  WT/TPR/M/249 
 Page 65 
 
 
  dividend distribution tax and wealth tax. This w ill facilitate voluntary compliance and help increase 
the tax to GDP ratio. It also envisages stability in direct tax rates and strengthens taxation provisions 
for international transactions.  
447. In a major step towards streamlining SPS pro cedures and enforcement, the Food Safety and 
Standards Act was passed by Parliament in Augus t 2006. The Act came into effect from 5 August 
2011 and has consolidated a number of laws rela ted to food safety. The associated rules and 
regulations have been notified and are available in the public domain. Now, the Food Safety and 
Standards Authority of India has become a single point of regulation. 
448. Some of you referred to India's SPS measures. Sp ecific trade concerns raised against India 
have been largely addressed. Regulations adopted in th e past have been on the basis of scientific risk 
analysis. I have heard your concern about labelling requirements that may create barriers to trade 
because it would increase distribution costs.  Let me clarify that the Legal Metrology (Packaged 
Commodities) Rules 2011 provide an option for the labe lling declaration on "a package" to be either 
in Hindi or English. Even a single declaration in English is adequate to meet the requirements and 
information that has to be included is the ba re minimum required for consumer protection. 
449. Many of you have welcomed India's Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme for the LDCs that 
became operational in August 2008. Over the last three years the margin of preference under this 
Scheme has been increased to 60%. The eliminati on of duties under the Scheme will be completed in 
2012. 
450. We encourage other Members to also impl ement long delayed duty-free quota-free schemes 
and take the transparent stance of notifying immedi ately all the tariff lines on which they provide 
clear and unrestricted market access to LDCs. This major development issue deserves your immediate 
and undivided attention. 
451. I thank you all for your time and attention. This  has been an extremel y instructive exercise. 
We have gained immensely from the discussion here. I trust the large number of insightful questions 
posed by you is an indicator of your keen interest in strengthening trade ties with India.  I trust we 
have been able to satisfactorily respond to a ll your queries and observations. Should there be any 
further questions, we would be more th an happy to provide written responses. 
452. Change is complex, difficult and incremental. Therefore managing change is never easy. It 
has to be contextual and where we go depends on where we are coming from. History is replete with examples of the best laid policy plans being wreck ed because of unforeseen events. We have only to 
reflect on the events of 2008 and 2009 and others unf olding before us today to be reminded of the 
harsh realities in which policies are formulated. We are conscious of these constraints and are 
determined to overcome them.  The pace of reform may be constrained by many factors, including the 
pulls and pressures of a large and vibrant democracy . Building consensus can be a slow and tedious 
process, but with focus and determination, it yields policies that are inclusive, robust and enduring.  
When we came here for our previous TPR in 20 07 we had assured you that India would persevere 
with trade policy reform. We have kept our word . I can do no better than my predecessor but to ask 
you to keep the faith. As you have seen, such faith is tangibly rewarded. 
DISCUSSANT 
453. During the course of the Review, we witnessed  a universal consensual understanding (an 
increasingly unusual phenomenon in this house recent ly) over the impressive economic performance 
of India in the past years, leading to a modernis ed economy structure.  Clearly, India has benefitted 
from its integration into the global economy. WT/TPR/M/249 
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  454. We have all heard the impressive statistics.  Since the beginning of its economic reform two 
decades ago, India has become one of the fastest growing in the world.  We observe the rise of 
powerful and affluent middle class.  However, India is confronted with a nu mber of challenges among 
them, inflation, food security, education, infrastruct ure bottleneck, reform of taxation system, further 
improving of business environment, improving public  procurement system, further encouragement of 
private sector, enhancing intellectual property rights , reforming land acquisition practices as cited by 
many over the course of our discussions.  Some of th ese issues like inflation to be handled without 
delay.  In fact, Commerce Secretary Rahul menti oned infrastructure bottleneck as a major constraint 
before India's future growth, and also shared his views this morning how India is planning to address 
the challenges raised by Members and where the trade policies stand in reaching to the economic 
objectives India sets for herself. 
455. I would also like to point out what I consider an interesting paradox in India's development.  
The manufacturing sector is not able to keep pace with the fast growing services sector.  This, I 
believe, is an element India will pay more attention in the future.  I believe the delegations are pleased 
to hear that India will continue its reform and lib eralization process in a progressive manner.  It is 
obvious that India's liberalization steps will bri ng new opportunities for regional and global growth. 
456. This is a key finding we all hope and believe that India will pursue over the coming years.  
This is also fundamental for India as it has set forth an ambitious trade agenda for the next couple of years.  We have just heard from Secretary Rahul this  morning the WTO has a central role to play in its 
trade agenda.  India's role and contributions to the multilateral trading system, the WTO and the DDA 
have been widely acknowledged. 
457. Turning to the trade policy issues, we listened to a number of points to improve the current 
trade regime of India.  Increasing predictability , ensuring transparency, and simplifying the import 
regime, reducing the use of trade remedies, export r estrictions have been frequently referred by the 
Members.  At the flip side of the coin, Commerce Secretary Rahul has just expressed their side of the 
story, giving us the context in which India speci fically is implementing existing trade policies. 
458. It is clear that India is planning to address the challenges to its economic environment by 
incremental yet continuous reforms.   It is important to find out again that the c oncepts such as, 
openness, transparency, competition, predictability had been the most frequented principles voiced 
nearly by all Members. 
459. Though relaxation of FDI regulations was ac knowledged by many Members, the concerns 
over the remaining limits were also noted.  It h as been observed by both India and Members the huge 
potential gains FDI could bring to India and to the global economy. 
460. Before concluding, we must also recognize the contributions India started to make to the 
cause of development.  Extension of the DFQF to LDCs has been rightly appreciated by many delegations.  Further, increase the level of tec hnical aid to many countries has been noted.   
461. In concluding, I would like to stress that despite  its success story, Indi a is still a country in 
development, aiming to mobilize its enormous pot ential through various policies effectively and 
intensively to reach various objectives to the extent  within the limits of the multilateral system.  
Everyone has agreed that more is definitively possibl e, and it is just a question of how and when will 
be achieved. 
EUROPEAN UNION 
462. The EU would like to present some follow-up questions that we have received from our 
experts on the basis of the written answers that India has provided so far, and a few additional  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  questions.  We will submit them in writing and hope to  get a reply in writing.  As additional questions 
we pose some on regulatory issues and procedures incl uding on technical regula tions and standards.  
We also have a few additional questions on sectoral  policies in services and agriculture.  Our follow-
up questions to the replies already provided, touch upon issues like India's investment related restrictions and regulatory barriers.  In the area of SPS we would like some further clarification on 
new regulations;  in the area of government procur ement we are interested to hear about India's 
intention to harmonise its government procurement prac tices in central states and local level;  also we 
have a few clarifications to ask about the Indian sy stem of duties and charges on imports and plans to 
harmonise the system in all states;  and finally, we have a question on IPR enforcement. 
UNITED STATES 
463. From the number of questions that we and ot her delegations asked India to answer, we can 
see that Members continue to seek more information about India's trade policy regime and practices. 
The United States places great value on the important role played by the TPR mechanism in helping 
Members better understand each other's policies, a nd invites India to continue to help the TPR 
mechanism fulfil that role by providing compre hensive and meaningful responses to Members' 
follow-up questions.  We again urge India to acceler ate its moves to increasing the transparency and 
predictability of its trade policy regime. 
464. Among the specific follow-up questions we would like to ask are the following.  The United 
States asked about the role of international trade in goods and services – both exports and imports - in 
India's efforts to confront its poverty alleviation (U.S. Question 9).  India chose to address the export 
side of the equation only.  We would like a res ponse regarding the import side of the total trade 
equation.  What role do imports play, in India's view, in addressing its poverty alleviation challenges? 
465. In question 16, the United States asked, among ot her things, whether India envisions that its 
long-term objective "to accelerate the export growth rate to 25% per annum and double India's share 
in global trade by 2020" will be attainable in the gl obal market as it exists today, or do global markets 
need to grow ever larger to accommodate India's expor t goals?  In response, India directed us to its 
strategy paper on the Department of Commerce website. 
466. We have read your Strate gy paper online.  It, in part responds  to our question.  But, the Indian 
government, itself raises the question of how, for ex ample, India is to address its infrastructural 
bottlenecks ("the single most important constrai nt for achieving accelerated growth of Indian 
exports").  The strategy paper on the website does not seem to address the question of whether India 
considers that the openness of its own market has an important role to play in achieving its objectives.  
Does India consider that the openness of its own market  has an important role to play in this regard? 
467. With regard to U.S. question 10, India res ponded that "Revenue from non-tax sources could 
increase with better policies in the use of scarce resources/assets of the nation. The increasing use of 
auction mode in this regard woul d help garner resources."  What does India mean by "the increasing 
use of auction mode"?  Please descri be how "auction mode" is currently used and its impact on trade.  
How does it help garner resources? 
468. In U.S. Question 15, we asked India to descr ibe its trade policy making apparatus.  India 
responded only that it arrives at a government c onsensus on trade policy and negotiating positions 
"through a process of continuous dialogue with all stakeholders … Intra governmental consultations 
are also held on cross-cutting issues before formulating the trade policy and the negotiating positions."  Our follow-up question is: How does India ensure that all interested parties, including 
foreign governments, investors and manufacturers, ha ve the opportunity for input on all trade-related 
policies before they are implemented?  For exampl e, are ministries required by law to issue public 
requests for comment or draft regulations, or does each ministry have discretion to take such actions?  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  In addition, what are the interagency instituti ons and/or mechanisms (such as the Committee of 
Secretaries) that facilitate the intra-governmental  consultations referenced  in India's response? 
469. In U.S. Question 17, we asked about the World Bank's assessment that India, in 2010, ranked 
165 out of 183 economies for ease of starting a busi ness.  We asked India: "To what factors" it 
attributes "this low ranking, notwith standing India's efforts to improve its business climate?"  And, we 
asked what additional measures India is considering to improve its business environment in an effort 
to achieve its trade and investment goals?  In dia responded that the World Bank's report does not 
represent the business environment across the country , and that the World Bank's sample was too 
small.  India responded simply that "Government is reviewing the FDI policy and regulations, on a 
continuing basis, with a view to their further lib eralisation and increasing their investor-friendliness."  
The United States would like a more specific respon se, including what additional measures India is 
considering in this context to achieve its objectives. 
470. With regard to U.S. Question 45 regardi ng import licenses for remanufactured goods, we 
understand from India's response that licenses fo r importation of "rema nufactured goods" are not 
automatic.  What are the conditions (i.e. the "merits to  safeguard public interest") that must be met to 
receive a license, and where in Indian law are th ese conditions set out?  When will India notify these 
conditions in light of the Import Licensing Agreement?  
471. The United States has additional follow-up questio ns for India that we would like to submit 
rather than provide orally.  We look forward to receiving full responses to all of our questions from 
the Indian government within the requisite month following this TPR. 
NEPAL 
472. We are pleased to note the progress that Indi a has achieved over the years.  India is an 
example of democracy and development and its democr atic achievements are exemplary.  India is one 
of the fastest growing economies, it has its own lead ership on how even the worst economic crisis can 
be managed and Nepal congratulat es India on its achievements.   
473. Nepal and India are close friends and neighbor s and our two countries enjoy a wide trade 
relation.  India is Nepal's largest trading partne r, we are working to enhance it further and bring 
necessary balance in the direction and the structure of bilateral trade.  As India is the fastest growing 
economy we commend India's active role in multilateral forums and to make efforts to conclude the 
Doha Round with the development content at its cente r thus protecting the interests of small and poor 
countries like us. 
JAPAN 
474. Japan appreciates the important role that India is playing in the world economy as well as its 
efforts to enhance transparency in governance and to provide greater predictability and clarity for 
foreign investors.   
475. Regarding the answers to our questions provided by  India on the first day, Japan would like to 
submit several follow-up questions in a written format shortly after this meeting. I would like to take 
this opportunity to make further comments on four points: 1) the Special Additional Duty, SAD, and 
the Minimum Alternate tax, MAT, which we raised on Wednesday; and two trade related issues, 
which we refrained from raising due to time constraints on the first day: 3) Government Procurement 
and 4) Aid for Trade. 
476. On SAD, we understand that SAD for pre-p ackaged goods can be exempted, because such 
goods are directly ready for consumers and the VAT is  automatically levied at  that stage. The same  WT/TPR/M/249 
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  could be said for Complete Built Unit automobiles.  Japan believes that the exemption of SAD for 
CBU automobiles would eliminate unnecessary burd en of the SAD refund both for exporters and 
Indian customs authorities alike.  
477. With regard to the imposition of the Minimum Alternate Tax, MAT, in the Special Economic 
Zones, SEZ, I would like to reiterate that comp anies who invested in SEZ have had reasonable 
expectation that they are either exempted from the duties or pay reduced amount of duties. We believe 
that their expectations should be duly taken into account, when India considers this issue in the month 
ahead. 
478. With regard to Government Procurement, as in fact stated by other delegations, including the 
EU, the U.S., and Canada, on the first day, Japan al so welcomes India's participation as an observer to 
the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement Co mmittee. We expect realization of India's 
accession to this agreement in the near future, and would like to provide any support toward its 
accession, if requested.  
479. In the opening statement, India stated that infr astructure continue to be a major constraint to 
development. India has been developing its infr astructure taking advantage of Aid for Trade under 
strong ownership. Currently, Japan and India are promoting the "Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor 
Project" to develop the transportation network and industrial parks, which is being financed by 
Japanese ODA as well as its privat e sector finances. Japan hopes this will be a very successful 
example of Aid for Trade and further strengthen both bilateral and multilateral trade.  
480. Finally, I would like to reiterate our hope that India will further promote the liberalization of 
its trade and investment regime, and improve the business environment through transparent, 
predictable and stable policy.  
ECUADOR 
481. I only wish to state that Ecuador has today received two specific questions from the capital 
which we will transmit today both to the Secretariat and the delegation of India.  We realize that it is a little late, but as this is the last day of the Revi ew we would appreciate receiving a response to these 
last two questions. WT/TPR/M/249 
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  VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON 
482. This fifth Trade Policy Review of India has provided an opportunity for us to improve our 
understanding of recent developments in India's trad e and trade-related polici es, and to identify areas 
in which there is room for improvement.  I woul d like to thank Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar 
and his delegation for their constr uctive engagement in this meeting.  My thanks also goes to 
Ambassador Aran for his excellent participation as discussant, and to the Members for their numerous 
interventions.  I would further like to commend the au thorities of India for the effort that they have 
made to answer the almost one thousand questions that they received prior to this meeting, which 
have been extremely useful to us. 
483. Members congratulated India for the solid ec onomic performance achieved during the period 
under review, which had allowed GDP to grow at an impressive rate.  India was continuing to reap the 
benefits of the trade liberalization process and of  the structural reforms begun in the 1990s.  
It deserved praise for dealing satisfactorily w ith the economic crisis, without adopting any 
protectionist trade measures.  Members urged India to continue to deepen the liberalization process 
that had been so beneficial to the country. 
484. Members also praised India for having used trade policy to promote sustainable growth, and 
for having acted to ensure that th e different levels of society would benefit from it.  However, in spite 
of all that had been achieved, pove rty reduction remained a challenge. 
485. Members expressed their satisfaction with the a doption of trade facilitation measures such as 
the introduction of an electronic customs clearanc e system, and with the fact that the average 
MFN tariff had decreased during the period under review. 
486. Similarly, there was a positive assessment of th e legal and institutional reforms introduced by 
India to support trade and investment;  however, Members highlighted a number of areas for further 
improvement, as mentioned further on. 
487. Members acknowledged India's active participat ion in the WTO, particularly in the 
DDA negotiations, and the fact that India was a strong proponent of the multilateral system.  
They noted with satisfaction India's participati on as an observer in the Agreement on Government 
Procurement, and urged India to accede to that Agre ement.  They also urged India to improve its 
compliance with its WTO notification obligations. 
488. A close examination of the observations made  by delegations during this Review would 
suggest that there were reasons to recommend that the authorities of India consider introducing further 
improvements in certain areas.  There are ten in all.  Some of which have been already mentioned by 
Mr. Khullar this morning. 
 (i) Tariffs and other import duties:   While they recognized that there had been a 
reduction in the average MFN tariff, Members encouraged India to make its tariff regime simpler and more transparen t, and to narrow the gap between the bound 
and applied rates.  They also urged India to simplify its tax system, for example by 
eliminating certain additional levies and by  introducing a tax on goods and services at 
the national level. 
 (ii) Non-tariff measures:   Some Members noted that imports could be subject to 
prohibitions, restrictions and licensing.  They considered India's licensing system to be complex and lacking in transparency, and they urged India to simplify it.  In general, Members suggested that India adopt a less complex import regime. 
  WT/TPR/M/249 
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   (iii) Anti-dumping:   Members noted that India was one of the WTO's most active users 
of anti-dumping measures, and that it had also imposed a number of safeguard measures.  This morning Mr. Khullar men tioned that only one safeguard measure was 
in place.  They called upon the authorities of India to use contingency measures more rationally in order to avoid harming trade. 
 (iv) SPS and TBT:   A number of Members questioned the scientific basis for certain 
sanitary and phytosanitary measures adopted by India, and pointed out that certain 
technical standards could constitute a barrier to trade.  Members urged India to eliminate measures that impeded trade and to introduce a notification mechanism so 
that trading partners could be kept informed of the measures in force. 
 (v) Government procurement:   While recognizing the progress made by India on 
certain aspects of its government procurement regime, Members pointed out that it was still possible to enhance the openness a nd transparency of the system.  With 
reference to the decentralization of gove rnment procurement, certain Members 
expressed concern that the system would not be governed by a common law.  India 
was urged to reconsider the costs to its economy of using preferences and set-asides, 
and to join the WTO Plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement as soon as possible. 
 (vi) Incentives:   Members pointed out that India had a series of incentive schemes to 
attract investment, promote exports and prot ect agriculture and other less advantaged 
sectors, such as micro- and small enterprises.  Some Members asked whether India 
had assessed the impact of these programmes and determined whether they were 
WTO-consistent, while others urged Indi a to notify the programmes to the WTO. 
 (vii) Intellectual property:   Noting the actions undertaken to strengthen the enforcement 
of intellectual property rights, including through administrative and legal reforms, 
Members urged India to continue stepping up efforts in this area, which remained a 
source of particular concern. 
 (viii) Agriculture:   While recognizing the importance of agriculture for India, Members 
also noted the support and protection received by that sector.  Mention was made of the fact that tariff protection for agricultu ral products was substantially higher than 
for industrialized goods and that very hi gh tariffs were maintained for certain 
products.  Members encouraged India to lib eralize the agricultural sector by reducing 
tariffs, and by eliminating superfluous sanitary and phytosanitary measures and 
export restrictions on raw materials, as it had done for cotton last year. 
 (ix) Services:   Members urged India to open up the services market and bind any 
liberalization under the GATS, noting that the country stood to benefit from the further liberalization of financial and transport services. 
 (x) Investment:   Members observed that most sectors were at least partly open to foreign 
direct investment.  Members urged India to eliminate remaining investment barriers, such as permits and requirements, which reduced transparency and could end up 
being more restrictive than an investment cap.  A number of Members emphasized the importance of foreign direct investment for India's future development in view of 
its infrastructure requirements. 
489. This successfully concludes our fifth Review of India.  The detailed nature of the questions 
submitted and the numerous interventions attest to Members' interest in India's trade policies and 
practices.  I would once again like to thank the de legation of India, the discussant and the Members 
for contributing to an enlightening Review  of India's trade policies and practices. 
 
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