The rise in quantum of imports exposes the structural weaknesses that plague India’s economy. Discuss (200 Words)
Refer - Business Line
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 3 years
KEY POINTS
· The gap between imports and exports widened, but that is to be expected in a growing economy. India exported $38.19 billion worth of merchandise goods.
· This is nearly a fourth more than during the same month a year ago, when the economy was recovering from the first wave but just before the second wave of Covid hit.
· Imports of electronic goods surged more than 35 per cent, past the $73 billion mark, putting it behind crude oil as our biggest import item.
· This is happening because we have been unable to fix the structural issues which dog our key sectors, relying instead on imports for quick fix solutions.
· India has the widest agro-climatic diversity in the world. Simply put, there is not a single fruit or vegetable that is climatically impossible to produce somewhere in India.
· Our import numbers, in fact, are a very good proxy for the structural weaknesses that plague our economy.
· Rising imports of crude cannot be helped it is a resource we lack in sufficient quantity though even here, we have not exploited the resources we have.
· But everything else points to an inability to address root causes. The failure to address problems known for decades or more is the biggest failure of India’s policymakers and planners.
