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Notwithstanding the slew of steps taken by commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma to reform India's economy, his ministry continues to face stiff opposition within the government in almost all major decisions taken by it of late.
While his Cabinet colleagues chose to remain silent on the Goldman Sachs' report, which indicated a rise in confidence among people in expectation of Gujarat Minister Narendra Modi winning the 2014 general elections, Sharma was seen defending the government alone. Lashing out at the agency, Sharma said: "They (Goldman Sachs) should do their job. Any prescription would be an insult on the voters' wisdom. They are not going to tell us what we should do. What they did was inappropriate and objectionable. We do not need daily certificates of assurance from any organisation."
Later, Goldman Sachs issued a statement defending its position.
Sharma's woes don't end there. While his ministry has always been at loggerheads with the finance ministry on several matters including exports incentives and special economic zones, the alacrity with which the latter criticised the commerce ministry's negotiating the free trade agreements (FTA) with partner countries is hard to miss.
India-EU FTA
This is not the first time another ministry has asked commerce ministry to slow down. Some time ago, the ministry of external affairs had also urged Sharma's ministry to go easy on negotiations after it faced major opposition on the India-European Union FTA. The commerce ministry was also blamed for the large-scale trade deals signed with Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
According to sources, during the last meeting of the Trade & Economic Relations Committee (TERC), Sharma had to face some "very difficult" questions from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who chaired the meeting. Questions were also asked on the reasons behind India's huge trade deficit with countries such as Japan and South Korea. "Negotiations are complex matters. There is a clear mandate on these (FTAs) are to be negotiated," Sharma told Business Standard. He added the Indian exports have increased thanks to FTAs.
The commerce ministry even issued a statement last Thursday defending its position on FTAs. However, by then the damage had been already done as the TERC meeting took place on Monday with finance minister P Chidambaram raising concerns on the issue.
In the week before, too, Sharma had come under fire when his meeting with Walmart Asia chief Scott Price got cancelled. While almost all the ministries concerned were giving a cold shoulder to Walmart, the commerce ministry was keen to engage the US retail juggernaut.
While it was Sharma who fought with traders, farmers and even regional political parties to throw open the retail sector for foreign investment, he and his team have not been given due credit for bringing about the reforms.
It was Sharma who first said international pharmaceutical giants are eating up India's pharmaceutical industry while none of them is coming with fresh proposals. Having brought the health ministry on his side, he has been trying to change the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy in pharmaceuticals.
However, even there it has faced a difference of opinion with the finance ministry which is against the proposal and believes the foreign investment into the sector should flow seamlessly.
Now the proposal to change the FDI policy in pharmaceuticals, which was supposed to be taken up by the Cabinet last week, has got delayed. Sources indicate this happened because both finance ministry and the Planning Commission is opposed to the idea of putting stringent riders for foreign pharmaceutical firms.
Manufacturing policy
On the National Manufacturing Policy, Sharma had to fight against all odds to launch the programme. It was vehemently opposed by the labour and environment ministries. The policy, launched in 2011, has not been to the government's satisfaction. During the first meeting of Manufacturing Industry Promotion Board chaired by Sharma, the ministry sought the finance ministry's cooperation to offer tax sops to lure investors. However, the PM was seen lauding the National Manufacturing Competitive Council for implementing the policy, not ministry of commerce and industry.
