Page 493 - ES 2020-21_Volume-1-2 [28-01-21]

120 Economic Survey 2020-21 Volume 2

aspects of appellate review under the AB. EU, China, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand are
some of the key members of MPIA. India has not joined MPIA yet. India supports the
restoration and preservation of the normal functioning of the two-stage binding WTO
dispute settlement mechanism.
3.51 In agriculture, India along with many other developing countries, have been demanding
a permanent solution on the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes. This has
become even more relevant in the wake of the ongoing pandemic, as the government had to step
up disbursement of food grains under the public distribution programmes for ensuring food security
of the masses. India has also been raising the issue of imbalances and asymmetries in the existing
Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) and their implications for developing countries. As per the Buenos
Aires Ministerial Decision (MC11) of December, 2017, WTO Members agreed to continue to engage
constructively to frame disciplines on fisheries subsidies by the next Ministerial Conference (MC-
12) in 2020. The negotiations are ongoing and are being conducted in the form of monthly cluster
meetings under Negotiating Group on Rules (NGR) in the WTO.

3.52 WTO members agreed not to impose customs duties on electronic transmissions in 1998
and since then, the moratorium has been extended periodically at the ministerial meetings. India
and South Africa made a joint submission under the Work Program on E-Commerce titled,
‘The E-Commerce Moratorium: Scope and its Impact’ in March, 2020, which, inter alia, argues
that reconsideration of the moratorium is important for developing countries to preserve policy
space for their digital advancement. In response to the failure to obtain a multilateral mandate
for rule-making in e-commerce, in January, 2019, a Joint Statement on e-commerce was issued
on behalf of seventy-six WTO members supporting rule-making on e-commerce. India has not
joined the said plurilateral initiative. India believes that developing countries need to focus on
improving domestic physical and digital infrastructure, creating supportive policy and regulatory
frameworks and developing digital capabilities to bridge the digital divide and enable shared
benefits of digitalization.

3.53 India conducts anti-dumping, anti-subsidyand safeguard investigations on the basis of
applications filed by the domestic industry with prima facie evidence of dumping/ subsidization
of goods, injury to the domestic industry and causal link between dumping/ subsidization and
injury to the domestic industry. Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has introduced
an online portal – ARTIS (Application for Remedies in Trade for Indian industry and other
Stakeholders) – to submit online petitions for different trade remedies like anti-dumping duty,
safeguard duty and countervailing duty. During the period from 01.04.2020 to 30.10.2020,
DGTR initiated 43 anti-dumping investigations, 4 countervailing duty investigations and 1
safeguard investigation.

WAY FORWARD

3.54 The COVID-19 pandemic impacted external sector differently for different countries.
While countries witnessed contraction in exports and imports, AEs suffered larger contraction
and EMDEs, less, especially the East-Asian economies. In India, calibrated easing of lockdown
restrictions narrowed contraction in both exports and imports with imports posting faster
recovery leading to progressive expansion of merchandise trade deficit over the quarters of the