Trading in Turbulent Times: A short Narrative of India’s External Trade in Recent Times

This paper dwells on the changing structure of India’s foreign trade in the post reform period and attempts to portray some of the recent trends in foreign trade and initiatives. The foreign trade scenario in the pre-reform period was guided by the protectionist policies of the government. The protectionist policies and the consequent expenditure that the Government doled out in an ambitious movement to aid the manufacturing sector prevented, in retaliation, our chances to squeeze international market for India’s exports. In the post reform period, the easing of QRs and the cut in TRs led to augmenting the volume of trade which is evident from the fact that the share of foreign trade in the country’s GDP burgeoned to over 40 percent in 2014 from a level as low as 14 percent in the initial years of post-reform period. This apparently shows greater and deeper diversification that the direction of trade has witnessed in recent times, thanks to change in foreign trade policies in terms both tariff and quota. However developments like GFM had its dampening effect on Indian economy although it withstood such effects thanks to the strong macroeconomic and structural bases. Trade variables of the country pertaining to the post-Brexit period do not show any substantiate evidence to prove that Brexit has had a strong disincentive effect on the foreign trade of India