A perspective of India's competitive advantage in foreign trade

The Research Paper Titled ‘A Perspective Of India‘s Competitive Advantage In Foreign Trade’ Makes An Attempt To Present How India Is Managing Its Competitive Advantage With Regard To Its Foreign Trade I.E., It Examines Whether India Has Sustained, Gained, Lost Its Competitive Advantage In Foreign Trade. A Few Illustrations Are Presented In Order To Understand What Made Some Countries Competitive. It Also Provides Few Illustrations On How Countries, Which Are Not Naturally Endowed, Could Develop Competitive Advantage And It Also Examines India Losing Its Competitive Advantage Inspite Of Being Naturally Endowed.

To Understand India‘s Competitive Advantage In Foreign Trade, India‘s Foreign Trade Data For The Periods 1987–88 To 1991–92 (Pre-Liberalisation) And 1993–94 To 2005–06 (Post-Liberalisation) Is Taken And Anlysed In Terms Of Increase In Exports And Imports By Number Of Times. This Paper Also Gathers Some Secondary Data To Make This Article More Comprehensive. It Is Observed That India Sometimes Lost, Sometimes Gained And Could Sometimes Sustain Its Competitive Advantage.

India‘s Foreign Trade Hasn‘t Gained Major Competitive Advantage In Any Sector Except For Gems And Jewellery And Basmati Rice. One Sector Where It Could Perform Well Is Petroleum Exports Because Of Its Refining Capacity. India Has Been Importing Crude Oil Refining It And Is Re-Exporting It And Also Meeting Its Domestic Consumption. It Would Be Apt For India, If It Concentrates On The Value-Addition Aspect Where The Country Would Import, Value-Add And Export.

From The Study It Can Be Observed That India Always Banked Upon Naturally Endowed Resources And Skilled Labour. As Propounded By Michael Porter, “The Story Of Modern Industrial History Is Not Exploiting Abundance But Creating It, Not Enjoying Advantage But Coping With Disadvantage”. The Competitive Advantage As Suggested By Michael Porter Is Rarely Attempted By India. India Sometimes Didn‘t Even Aim At Achieving Competitive Advantage In Naturally Endowed Resources As Well. This Is Manifested In Terms Of More Imports Of Agricultural Goods In The Post-Liberalisation Period 1992–93 To 2005–06.