Page 292 - DECO502_INDIAN_ECONOMIC_POLICY_ENGLISH

Indian Economic Policy

Notes perceptible changes in the components of imports—with a high percentage being accounted for by
oil and technical hardware (in many cases with technical expertise). In recent years, the percentage of
imports of technical expertise in the service sector is getting substantially counter-balanced by export
of IT oriented expertise in the service sector and the expanding base of outsourcing.

Table 3 : Movement of Imports
Period Total Imports % Growth

Over base year 1970–71 = 100 Over earlier year mentioned

1970-1971 100 3.8
1980-1981 768 22.6
1990-1991 2,644 13.2
1997-1998 9,435 19.9
1998-1999 10,914 15.7
1999-2000 13,172 20.7
2000-2001 14,129 7.3
2001-2002 15,006 6.2
2002-2003 18,189 21.2
2003-2004 21,977 20.8

Exports

The rise has been astronomical—from ` 1,535 crore in 1970–71 (base year) to ` 1,30,100 crore in 1997–
98 and ` 2,93,367 crore in 2003-04. What is of greater importance is the relative rise in the export of
technology, hardware, manufactured commodities and knowledge—spearheaded by IT. The portent
of growth is also highly satisfactory. For instance, in the iron and steel sector, while we are still
exporting considerable volume of iron ore and pellets to China, Japan and some other countries of
South-East Asia and Europe, there are clear indications that during the next decade such export will
be largely overtaken by steel and steel products. Such a manifest change in both import and export
baskets during the forthcoming decades will be highly encouraging and growth-oriented, and will
augur well for our international balance of payments (Table 4).

Table 4 : Movement of Exports
Period Total exports % growth with Growth over the previous year
1970–71 = 100 mentioned (% p.a.)

1970-1971 100 9.1
1980-1981 437 15.9
1990-1991 2,121 17.1
1997-1998 8,476 21.9
1998-1999 9,104 7.4
1999-2000 10,395 14.2
2000-2001 13,262 27.6
2001-2002 13,617 2.7
2002-2003 16,621 22.1
2003-2004 19,112 15.0

286 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY