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According to the World Economic Forum's Global Enabling Trade Report 2008, India has been ranked 71 st in global enabling trade index (ETI) due to tariff barriers and corruption-ridden border administration that oversees flow of goods.
India has restrictive market access with tariff barriers “representing a more serious impediment that non-tariff barriers,” says the report. China is ranked 48 th .
Among the 118 countries surveyed, India is ranked 105 th in market access with tariff, and non-tariff barriers pushing the country to the 112 th place.
The global ETI measures factors, policies and services facilitating free flow of goods across borders. It includes four main components — market access, border administration, transport and communications infrastructure, and business environment. It is a useful index for policy-makers interested in benefiting from trade, report's author Robert Z Lawrence said.
Hong Kong and Singapore lead the race because of their perceived “openness to international trade and investment as part of their successful economic development strategy”.
China, the global workshop for goods, “is a fairly closed country,” the report says, suggesting that though its growth has been made possible by the unstoppable rise of exports, the Middle Kingdom continues to place restrictions on imports through tariff and non-tariff barriers. It ranks 108 th out of 118 economies as regards tariff barriers, which amount to almost 15%. One of the biggest impediments in China is lack of transparency in border administration, says the report.
In sharp contrast, India meets many needs of exporters and importers with low costs for Customs-related services. “Border administration continues to be affected by corrupt practices, hampering efficient transport of goods across borders,” it said.
While India's business environment ranks 58 th in the survey, regulatory environment is ranked 64 th and physical security 56 th .
While the report is useful for policy-makers, it does not reveal an accurate picture of some of the leading industrialised countries like the US and the EU, who continue to rank at the top in imposing non-tariff measures. (Source: Business Standard)
June 25, 2008
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