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Exercises · Q12

Q.Discuss the causes of a trade deficit in a country like India and suggest measures to correct it.

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A trade deficit occurs when the value of a country's visible imports (MM) exceeds the value of its visible exports (XX), i.e., BoT=X−M<0BoT = X - M < 0.

Major causes of India's trade deficit:

  1. Heavy crude oil dependence — India imports the bulk of the crude petroleum it consumes, and oil price fluctuations directly widen or narrow the deficit.
  2. Large gold imports — driven by strong domestic investment and jewellery demand, gold is one of India's biggest non-oil import items.
  3. Rising imports of electronics and capital goods — as domestic demand for technology and machinery grows faster than domestic production capacity.
  4. Relatively narrower export diversification compared to import needs, despite recent gains in engineering goods, pharmaceuticals and services.
  5. Global demand fluctuations — a slowdown in partner-country economies can reduce India's export earnings while import needs stay largely unchanged.

Measures to correct a trade deficit:

  1. Boost export competitiveness through the Foreign Trade Policy's incentives, SEZs, and export promotion councils.
  2. Diversify the export basket and markets to reduce reliance on a few commodities or partners.
  3. Encourage domestic manufacturing (import substitution in select sectors) to reduce dependence on imported electronics, machinery, and inputs. …

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