10 September 2024

India losing to smaller rivals in manufacturing, World Bank says


India’s global trade share hasn’t kept pace with its fast growing economy, and the country is losing out to rivals like Bangladesh and Vietnam as low-cost manufacturing export hubs, the World Bank said.

India’s trade in goods and services has been declining as a percentage of gross domestic product over the past decade despite its economic heft, the multilateral lender said in a report on Tuesday.

The country’s share in global exports of apparel, leather, textiles, and footwear grew from 0.9% in 2002 to a peak of 4.5% in 2013, but has since declined to 3.5% in 2022, according to the World Bank. In contrast, Bangladesh’s share in global exports of these goods reached 5.1%, while Vietnam’s stood at 5.9% in 2022.

To boost exports and benefit from China’s shift away from labor-intensive manufacturing, India will need to lower trade costs, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers and revise trade pacts, the lender said.

“This is an area where India could focus on,” Nora Dihel, a senior economist at the World Bank, told reporters in New Delhi. “This is a call to action.”

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