COIMBATORE, OCT 13
Former Secretary of Union Ministry of Commerce Rajeev Kher on Monday advocated that India has to orient its Trade Policy towards global value changes so as to make our product competitive.
Rajeev Kher was addressing at The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on the topic “Free Trade Agreements” on Monday, 10th October 2022
Chamber President B Sriramulu welcomed and introduced Rajeev Kher to the august gathering.
In his address, Rajeev Kher said that Global Economic slowly has come down during Covid.
“The Trade Policy which is not in sync with industrial policy will not be useful. India is going through an extremely challenging time and it is going to be terrible in the coming years, with the Russia -Ukraine war on the one hand, and the significant slowdown in the US economy,” Kher said.
He mentioned that almost every value chain on the Industrial front travels through China. That’s the hold China has over other economies.
Kher added, “The concept of Global Value Chain has never been institutionalized in India. In 2015, the policy for the first time recognized Global Value Chain. We have to orient our Trade Policy towards global value changes so as to make our product competitive. India looks for innovative measures for making our product competitive.”
He gave example of our car manufacturings, where we are very competitive in small car manufacturing.
Kher insisted that, “FTAs are important to see how they impact our industrial policy. A more comprehensive policy that goes beyond incentive approach should be put in place. A significant amount of work is required to address such issues to understand the negative impact of FTAs. The present level of understanding the agreement with Australia is good, but the future remains to be seen. The FTA with Mauritius is also good, but we have not ventured enough in Africa.”
Meeting concluded with vote of thanks proposed by the Chamber Honorary Secretary K Annamalai.
