The Hindu Business Line : India-Asean FTA

The issues raised in the article “India-Asean FTA: A realistic assessment” (Business Line, September 11) demand wider debate on the contents of the Agreement and the implications at the regional and national levels. The mantra for survival or success in the era of market integration is competitiveness in cost and quality.

A better indicator of India’s competitiveness in the perennial and plantation crops sector is comparative unit cost of production rather than productivity as, very often, higher productivity may not easily translate into lower unit cost of production for well known reasons. Therefore, the relative agro-climatic suitability as well as prevailing agro-management practices deserve critical assessment.

Unfortunately, the reliability of the available databases on the individual crops, and particularly these aspects, is questionable. Unless the status of individual crops at the time of integration is properly documented, perceptions and prescriptions may be based on inaccuracies and assumptions.

Another important issue is the relative status of the farming community in relation to farm-gate price realisation across countries and crops. The relevance of this is underlined by the negligible share of the farm-gate price as a proportion of the terminal market price in the case of a few crops with insignificant material transformation beyond the farm-gate.

Finally, it is also important to understand the unique role of trading capital in consolidating the gains through the routes of both regional and multilateral agreements. Therefore, what we need is a comprehensive, and realistic, assessment.

Tharian George K. Kottyam

More Stories on : Letters | Foreign Trade

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
The RBI’s exit-speak

Jetting into an avoidable crisis

From probability to certainty

MAT should go

One-person company

Taxing times for life insurance

Assessments, appeals

Export of service

India-Asean FTA