The Hindu Business Line : Non-tariff barriers curb service exports: Minister

Even as India's engagement with the global economy has intensified, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, on Monday voiced concern over the developed countries' attempts to raise non-tariff barriers on services exports from the country.

Speaking at a plenary session on `India's global growth agenda' at the India Economic Summit 2006, organised by the World Economic Forum, Mr Kamal Nath said the country's engagement with the global economy is likely to exceed $400 billion this fiscal and targeted at $500 billion next year. He highlighted that many issues on services exports are not related to migration. "If you want to send somebody from a IT services company in India to the US for one month for some software services, you can't. That's not immigration. This is a non-tariff barrier," he said.

Mr Kamal Nath said that the world of tomorrow is not going to be a world of tariffs, but of rules. "That is why World Trade Organisation is important. We need it to tackle issues like non-tariff barriers," he said.

He said multilateral trade rules are important to India as it is to the US or theEU.

Globalisation

On the issue of globalisation versus protectionism, Mr Kamal Nath said greater champions of globalisation (developed countries) are now somehow shying away from India. "We, who are scared of globalisation, are becoming proponents of globalisation," he said.

The Satyam Computer Services Founder and Chairman, Mr Ramalinga Raju, highlighted the presence of non-tariff barriers in the developed world for services exports from the country.

Inadequate avenues

"We are very concerned about the global developed markets not giving adequate opportunities for free flow of services. Non-tariff barriers are being imposed.

These (non-tariff barriers) come by way of mixing the immigration issue with service delivery issues," Mr Raju said.

He pointed out that multilateral discussions are dominated by concerns around agriculture. "Agriculture concern is real, because it concerns 65 per cent of the Indian population. But we do have the right to say that the Commerce Ministry must do as much batting for 65 per cent of the opportunities, which is the services sector," he said.

The Confederation of Indian Industry President, Mr R. Seshasayee, said protectionism would not help the developed countries, as they will lose the market.

"The more you get competitive, the more you see the spectre of protectionism. In the overall interest, we need to pursue the agenda of globalisation," he said.