INTERNATIONAL-TRADE AND THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN INDIA

This paper analyses the impact on Indian agriculture of trade policy reform in India and multilateral trade liberalisation internationally. The rationale and structure of India's trade policy regime for agriculture over the last three decades are outlined to highlight the fundamental departures implicit in the recent trade policy reform. This is followed by discussion of the significance of the agricultural sector in India's economy and foreign trade on the one hand and the importance of Indian agriculture in world output and trade on the other and comparison of domestic and world prices for selected agricultural products. The analysis is developed further to cover the implications and consequences of trade policy reform in India for the agricultural sector in particular and the economy in general. Shifting attention to the international context, the status of trade in agriculture in the multilateral trading system so far is outlined to bring out the fundamental departures contemplated in the Uruguay Round and their possible implications for the agricultural sector and the economy in India are examined. Some conclusions that emerge from the analysis are drawn together in the final section of the paper.