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India's International Trade Policy

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Asie.Visions 9, September 2008
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India's International Trade Policy
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Traditionally, the main objective of the Indian International Trade Policy has been to protect its market from foreign competition. Up until the 1980s, India was not interested in exporting its goods and services abroad and not ready to open its economy to foreign investments. The aim of its economic policy was to ensure the country's independent development (the swadeshi principle). At the end of the 1980s, India was one of the most closed economies in the world. Its bilateral trade policy, heavily skewed toward the former communist countries, was full of grand statements about technology transfer, mutually advantageous relations and partnership for development - to very little purpose. The idea of a Free Trade Zone was abhorrent. Therefore, India was left out of the Asian economic boom.

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India's International Trade Policy

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Center for Asian Studies
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Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.

The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands. 

The Centre for Asian Studies maintains close institutional links with counterpart research institutes in Europe and Asia, and its researchers regularly carry out fieldwork in the region.

The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The work of Center’s researchers, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal Asie.Visions.

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India's International Trade Policy
Laurence HENRY, « India's International Trade Policy », Papers, Asie Visions, Ifri, 18 September 2008.
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India's International Trade Policy

India's International Trade Policy