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India for multilateral trading system, says Kamal Nath

New York: Rejecting the suggestion that India is taking a difficult stand in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has said New Delhi only wanted a multilateral trading system that corrected the existing structural flaws in global trade rather than perpetuate them.

The rules of the game were very important for India as it engaged in the global trading system more and more, he told investors and entrepreneurs here on Friday.

Stressing the need for abolition of agricultural subsidies by rich countries, he told the India-America Chamber of Commerce that these subsidies and non-tariff barriers greatly distorted the system and were not justified.

Mr. Nath said India needed to protect its intellectual property rights as it graduated from user to producer of intellectual property. It was aimed at the coming generations of entrepreneurs who would create new products.

Besides, he said, it improved the credibility and standing of India in the international community as it fulfilled the commitments made and translated into investments with investors realising that the country not only had laws but implemented them too. “It is the credibility of India which is bringing in investments in various sectors,” he added.

Observing that the comparison between India and China was “misplaced,” he said there was need to see where China was 15 years into the opening up process. India, which started economic reforms 15 years ago, was now getting double the investments China got at that point of time.

Besides, young entrepreneurs were emerging and this along with the huge skilled human base was a great strength for the country, Mr. Nath added.

He said India was becoming a manufacturing hub which attracted a large part of investments. This was a paradigm shift as the service sector was driving the whole growth earlier. An important aspect, Mr. Nath told investors, was that the growth in manufacturing was private sector-driven and not State-driven. The Government acted as a facilitator.

Emphasising the need for expansion of the manufacturing sector, Mr. Nath said 650 million people were engaged in agriculture and the GDP they produced was not sustainable. Agriculture in India was never commerce but subsistence and it continued to be so with small land holdings.

But he expected that the next revolution in India would be in agriculture. “It is a revolution waiting to happen.”

The major challenges for the country, he said, were in agriculture and ensuring an “inclusive” growth. — PTI

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