Kant calls for cutting edge technology for advantage in export markets
The United Kingdom and India are already working closely on an enhanced trade partnership, which will help deepen trade ties, remove market access barriers and act as a roadmap for a potential future free trade agreement, Rhiannon Harries, UK’s Deputy Trade Commissioner, South Asia, has said.
“Trade and investment sits at the heart of the UK-India relationship,” added Harries at the release of a report on “Foreign Trade & Investment in India: Unlocking Key Opportunities through Strategic Reforms” on 23 Feb 2021.
“We are pleased to have partnered with CII (for the report) on identifying the contributions of trade and investment to economic growth and strategic reforms needed to unlock key opportunities,” she said.
To establish India as a global trade and investment hub, the report calls for exploring FTAs with key partners such as the UK, the European Union and the United States.
It suggests setting up a Single Point of Contact for large overseas investors, designing specific policies for Champion Sectors, and introducing differential slab-based incentives as per FDI size.
The business and regulatory climate in India has shown massive improvement, noted the report.
It recommends key policy measures including developing a mechanism to review the effectiveness of single-window systems more regularly and effectively by the Chief Secretary of the respective states, digitisation and integration of land records, introduction of single online portal with integrated information, notification of ‘Fixed Term Employment’ by all states, and promotion of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Mechanisms.
The report, by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with the UK Government, presents a detailed analysis of the policies that affect India’s openness with respect to international trade, including tariff and non-tariff barriers, and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
Against the background of the policy changes, the study analyses the trends and patterns of imports and exports and FDI inflows as well as identifies on-ground issues being faced by companies in India.
It also highlights the need to participate in preferential trade arrangements with key partners, alongside leveraging existing ones, for realizing greater export and FDI and increasing India’s integration into the regional and global value chains, focusing on higher incentives and lower tariffs for enhanced production, rationalising power cost, setting up of certification bodies, and specific trade facilitative measures, among others.
Sectors such as telecom, automobiles, battery storage devices, and solar energy, among others, would benefit from technology exports but India now needs to have a cutting edge technology to boost shipments to the competitive global markets, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant told the event for the report launch.
These would help the country take a quantum leap forward for connecting to global value chains, he stressed.
India is at the cusp of a transformation and has become a favoured destination for global investment, he added, highlighting the report’s call on the Government to take measures in order to make India more competitive in the global market.
Indian policymakers have undertaken dynamic reform measures to improve the trade and investment sentiment regime for further driving the growth momentum of the economy over the years, observed Soumitra Bhattacharya, Chairman, CII National Committee on MNCs and MD Bosch India.
Landmark initiatives have been undertaken in the domain of taxation, liberalization in policies, and Production Linked Incentive scheme to boost FDI. As a result, the country has emerged as a stable and safe place for businesses and a land of multiple opportunities across varied sectors, according to Bhattacharya. #FTA #exports #technology #reforms #investment #banking #economy /fiinews.com
