International competitiveness imperative for survival

Gross domestic product growth has hit a record low of 5 per cent with dismal manufacturing growth. Economists are advocating increase in investment and interest rate cuts. But these are not sufficient to revive industrial growth. In the globalised world to which we are intrinsically integrated since 1991, we cannot succeed in sustained industrial growth without being internationally competitive. This calls for anti-protection policies contrary to what we are currently pursuing with increase in tariffs in successive Budgets. India’s non-agricultural average tariff level is about 14 per cent compared to single-digit levels in successful ASEAN countries. It is high time