Forum writes to Modi, seeks curb on unnecessary imports
The growing imbalance in India’s trade is a big threat to the country’s economy. The trade imbalance was Rs 8,403,28 crore 10 years ago, which has now increased to Rs 19,96,452 crore this year.
The president, World MSME Forum, Badish Jindal, said that a letter had been sent to the Prime Minister on this serious matter by the forum. The letter says that, “The increasing trade imbalance will have a negative impact on the country’s industry because the goods which should have been produced in the country were being imported. This has also exposed the claims of industrial revolution in the country because our imports are continuously increasing as compared to exports.”
The situation of India is almost the same as that of the USA. India’s trade deficit is 56 per cent of its exports and similarly America’s trade deficit is 61 per cent of its exports. The import ratio to the GDP in the USA is 15.41 per cent, whereas the import ratio to the GDP of India is 23.96 per cent.
“This means that we are importing 23.96% of our total consumption in India. Newly elected President Donald Trump has recently made a big announcement to improve this situation. He had announced that the day he would take charge as US President, 25 per cent import duty would be imposed on Canada and Mexico and the import duty on goods from China would also be increased by 10 per cent. Trump has promised to impose 60% import duty on Chinese imports during his election campaign,” said
Jindal added that Trump took this decision because unemployment and poverty were continuously increasing in the USA and the industries there were shutting down one after the other. “The situation is almost same in India as small industries are continuously shutting down and unemployment is increasing. In such a situation the Modi government should also follow Trump,” he said.
India’s trade imbalance is more than Rs 1 lakh crore with 10 countries — China (Rs 7 lakh 4 thousand crore), Russia (Rs 4 lakh 71 thousand crore), Iraq (Rs 2 lakh 20 thousand crore), Saudi Arabia (Rs 1 lakh 64 thousand crore), Switzerland (Rs 1 lakh 63 thousand crore), Indonesia (Rs 1 lakh 44 thousand crore), Korea (Rs 1 lakh 22 thousand crore), Japan (Rs 1 lakh 4 thousand crore), UAE (Rs 1 lakh 3 thousand crore) and Hong Kong (Rs 1 lakh 1 thousand crore).
He further said that India should try to improve the trade imbalance with these countries, force them to increase imports from India and increase the duty on imports from these countries. He added that strict action should be taken to stop unwanted imports from China.
“The Indian government is increasing the imports because the government is earning huge duties, but the way its adverse effect is being felt on the industry of the country, it is evident that soon the remaining industries in the country would be forced to close down,” said Jindal in the letter.
