A tough job awaits newly appointed Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia, as the government is yet to lay down a trade strategy and a series of bilateral and multilateral agreements pile up.
Teaotia, who will be taking charge from July 1, has to fill the shoes of present Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher. A 1981-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, Teaotia will assume office when India is under pressure from almost all its key trading partners to conclude pending agreements.
Tough talks are ahead with the US administration obtaining fast-track authority from its legislative to expedite the Trans-Pacific Partnership being negotiated with Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The partnership will impose higher standards and stiff regulations on India.
Under Kher, India took significant strides in global trade through bilateral agreements with Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the European Union. Kher was also instrumental in upholding India's interest in public stockholding for food security at the World Trade Organization.
Prior to her current posting at the department of telecommunications, Teaotia was in the ministry of rural development.
Before that, she was posted in Gandhinagar for several years. She is familiar with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's working style.
Udyog Bhavan, which houses the commerce ministry, is abuzz with Teaotia's negotiating skills. "For the new commerce secretary, the challenge will be to keep multilateralism relevant. Then India has to navigate well through the impending regional agreements," said Biswajit Dhar, an economics professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
On the domestic front, Teaotia will have to face exporters unhappy with the reduced rewards announced in the new trade policy.
Merchandise exports from India have been falling continuously for five months and exporters seek extended interest subvention and cheaper credit.
