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While the liberalisation process in India has scored many plus points, it has not been successful in certain areas. One such grey area is in the Exim Policy, which is riddled with inconsistencies, causing doubts in the minds of foreign investors.

One can also see that the Centre is obsessed with IT and software. These are, no doubt, important for export-led growth. But in a country like India, sectors like agriculture and traditional textiles als need to be given a fillip because they would not only generate foreign exchange but also fetch good prices for our farmers and improve the prospects of textile workers.

The need of hour is to boost traditional exports of agri-products and textiles, as well as pharmaceuticals, as this would sustain growth on both the export as well as domestic fronts.

India has a golden opportunity now to attract some of the FDI that would have flowed to China as, in the wake of SARS, foreign investors are wary of heading to what was once the favoured destination. The Central Government should seize this opportunity to boost FDI (foreign direct investment) and improve its forex position.

The BJP-led NDA government has to implement policies and schemes to cater to the needs of common man or else the dream of bagging 8 per cent of world trade transactions will remain a pipe-dream.

Lakshmi Narasimhan

Coimbatore

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