The Financial Express -- Expressions

This page contains Editorial and Op-Ed articles

Saturday, November 29 1997

Letters to the Editor

A foolproof mechanism

New Delhi's imposition on November 21 of a final anti-dumping duty on purified terephthalic acid (PTA) marks the beginning of a long battle. Indian suppliers generally must be prepared for similar action not only from South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia but also elsewhere. Yet, domestic producers/manufacturers and the government must be ever watchful of below cost pricing by their overseas competitors and the anti-dumping mechanism must come into force to prevent an unfair exploitation of the liberalisation of import tariffs all-round.

Government apathy continues

At a recent hearing over the contemplated rehabilitation plans of Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCI) and Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation (HFC) group of plants, the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) is reported to have said that either government take sick public sector units off its ambit or allow it to proceed as per the law. The situation reached a flash point at this hearing when an official of the department of fertilisers (DoF), pleaded that DOF be allowed some more time as the cabinet/group of ministers (GoM) have yet to approve relevant proposals.

Free trade without treaties

A spate of Asian currency devaluations has raised the specter of renewed protectionism around the world. South America's Mercosur trade bloc, led by Brazil, just raised its tariffs some 30%. And the US congress turned its back on the president and refused to approve fast-track authority for him to negotiate further free-trade accords. In light of all this dismaying news, what are the prospects for free trade? Is the future bleak, or will the postwar trend of dramatic liberalisation continue to accelerate despite these setbacks?

A foolproof mechanism

Ambiguity remains

India's economic policy must emphasise on clean technology

Free trade without treaties

Government apathy continues