“Where do
Citation: Ganesh-Kumar, A. and R. Vaidya.
2000. “Where do India’s Exports Face the Greatest Obstacles”. Report submitted
to the World Bank, PP-46, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai.
Abstract: This paper aims at identifying “problem markets” where Indian exports
face some obstacles without going into their precise nature. Such obstacles may
be imposed by the trading partner in the form of tariff and/or non-tariff
barriers or may be any other barrier that limits export penetration such as
international transport costs, product differentiation, weak marketing
networks. Using a consistent world trade data provided by the International
Trade Division of Statistics Canada, Ottawa, we find (i)
at the detailed commodity level weak market focus of Indian exports emerges as
an important reason for the inability of India to exploit the growth in world
trade even in the case of commodities in which she has a comparative advantage;
and (ii) problem markets exist even for commodities in which India’s
competitiveness is on the rise. Our analysis provides a useful starting point
for further research into the nature and extent of these obstacles faced by
Indian exports.