India's International Trade Policy
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
Center for Asian Studies
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.
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