Different answers are likely to be forthcoming from bureaucrats, businessmen and economists.
The bureaucracy, which has been administering India's export-import regime since 1955, will say that reforms have been carried forward, because the policy shifts scores of items from the more restricted lists for imports to the less restricted ones. It simultaneously reduces the red tape for exports. The policy, in several cases, frees up the imports altogether, inasmuch as no licences will henceforth be required for importing these items. These products are mostly consumer goods or agro products. To the extent that this signifies a reduction in the discretionary power of the bureaucracy, and perhaps diminish the prejudices against consumer goods imports, the new exim policy can be described as mildly reformist.