Ajitava Raychauduri, Prabir De and Suranjan Gupta (Eds.), World Trade and India: Multilateralism, Progress and Policy Response

Abstract

Today, the entire world is witnessing a tough time because of the deadly coronavirus spread. It has adversely impacted almost all aspects of human lives and hit the world economy since last year. The pandemic has also hit the international trading system which is already facing many challenges. As per the latest report on trade trends by UNCTAD (2021), the last decade has witnessed declining dependence, calculated by the ratio of the value of world trade flows to the world output including goods and services, on international trade since the year 2009. This ratio was 30% in the year 2008, and it is expected that this ratio will settle at 25% by the end of the year 2020. The last decade has witnessed changes in many economic phenomena such as rising share of trade in intermediate goods and services, the emergence of technology as a major factor of production, and asymmetry in its intensity, which pose severe challenges to the countries involved in international trade indirectly or directly. Losing faith in the WTO by its member countries, the rising level of protection, unilateralism, and emerging regionalism are few such challenges. These challenges gave birth to many complexities that compelled trade economists to think from a different perspective and formulate trade policy in such a way that it satisfies the demand of all the stakeholders. Before devising any solution, understanding all these complexities and channels of their potential impact is very much necessary. This is where World Trade and India: Multilateralism, Progress and Policy Response, a book edited by Ajitava Raychaudhuri, Prabir De, and Suranjan Gupta, comes into play and provides the required knowledge. The book offers fussy insights on various international trade issues of the present-day world, challenges associated with those issues, and the steps taken at the country level. Focusing particularly on the Indian economy, the book covers almost all the aspects related to India’s progress in new trade issues and its policy responses and provides few potential solutions.