Challenges within the Secretariat
With the export growth rate of India doubling up and its contribution to the annual GDP growing to 50 percent from the 20 per cent five years ago, the Commerce and Industry Secretary has quite a job on hand. What bothers Khullar is, the capacious work and the unavailability of adequate staff for it. India’s trade has grown by leaps and bounds with a growth rate of more than 100 percent in the last five years and this requires more personnel strength.
With the number of countries willing to trade with India increasing at a rapid pace, the thin Secretariat staff remains a deep concern. “The Commerce Department needs officials at all levels. Trade agreements get delayed due to officials travelling across the globe and files keep piling up here back home. I cannot do everything alone. By the time an agreement is finalized, 4-5 new agreements get pending. Look at the board outside, you will find everyone is travelling next month, I don’t have people for new trade offers coming in,” he says.
Underlining the above Khullar says he has personally spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia about the matter and they have taken cognizance of the issue. Showing BT a docket of paper he says beamingly, “DoPT has written back to me agreeing that there is a grave need for trained and expert staff for foreign dealings in the Commerce Ministry and it would be getting more Joint Secretaries.”
India feared
Talking about the Indian service sector, especially BPO, computing and finance, Khullar agrees that Indians are giving employment jitters to countries like the US, UK and Australia. They perceive that Indians will outmanoeuvre their citizens in jobs if they are allowed to enter their countries and settle there permanently. Khullar pinpoints that “there’s a clause in trade pacts with Western and European nations these days wherein we assure them about migration issues.” He smiles adding, “In the era of Internet and video calling, you may restrict a person physically but not virtually.”
Concern for the local worker
Discussing the economic downturn and its effects he takes sides with the small and medium export houses and advocates social security measures for them. “Against common perception all exporters are not rich and they are not insulated from economic predicaments abroad. When big export houses closed down it was the local labourer working in a gems and jewellery unit who was hit majorly. After the US economic fiasco, Europe is giving goose bumps to countries across the globe. We have to be very careful before signing any trade pact,” the Secretary opines.
FTA with Japan
Content with last year’s growth trend in exports after the economic downturn, Khullar says that new territorial agreements are underway with countries like Chile, Canada, South Africa and Israel. Conversing about having a Free Trade Agreement with Japan, he informs BT that final results can be expected by December this year. Officials of both the countries have met and sorted out most issues and concerns plaguing the pact. Discussing the pact, Khullar says that three areas have been specifically chalked out for market access. Services remain prominent and generic medicines and agricultural products are significantly placed too. “My aim is to ensure that every stakeholder benefits from it. By year-end we are hoping to get the deal done with Japan,” he puts across astutely.
Infrastructure is the key
Infrastructure remains a big concern for a developing economy like India. He says, “We are growing rapidly but where is the infrastructure to support it? We need ports, airports, railway lines, roads, malls, business development centres and electricity to ensure that we are not outrivalled by other Asian giants.” Calling them the monuments of development, Khullar rightly points out about the requirement of a prodigious investment to develop them in order to remain competitive in the world.
International trade expertise
Along with Infrastructure Commerce Ministry officials and those involved in foreign dealings, including exporters, should be trained about the latest trade guidelines, legal bindings and technical implications of international trade, says the Secretary. Pulling out a thousand-page book laying guidelines for trade and commerce at the international level, Khullar says, “Not every exporter can be expected to know about the clauses written here and understand them.” He further articulates, “there are ten thousand books full of technical jargon and one cannot read all. Think about a local exporting firm trading with the US and UK in Meerut.” The Commerce and Industry Secretary emphasizes the need for technical education to ensure that traders do understand the rules pertaining to non-tariff barriers. “If India wants to achieve the $200billion trade target by 2011 we need to ramp up and go fast,” Rahul Khullar yields smilingly.
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