Exports: Quest for the past

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For centuries, India was a major exporter of agricultural goods and manufactured products till the British came to turn the country into their most fertile theatre of loot and plunder. Who doesn’t know the achievements of the country’s merchants even during the reign of emperors Chandragupta Maurya and his son Ashoka in 4^th and 3^rd century BC when spices, textiles and silk were some of the items in which this land was a dominant exporter globally, especially to the Greek and Hellenic civilisations? The colonisers destroyed India’s economic backbone to such an extent that even 75 years after Independence the country is nowhere near reclaiming its global status as a major exporter.

But in a globalised and post-pandemic world, possibilities of emerging as a major exporter in different goods and services stare the country in the face. It is this context that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s interaction with the foreign missions on August 6 must be viewed. His message emphasised the primacy of promoting India’s export interest. India’s exports are growing and obviously there is a need to promote generic exports.

But there is also a need to promote Indian brands abroad. And brands ride corporate vehicles. Therefore, there is a need to promote the interests of Indian companies abroad too. The oldest democracy, the US, does it regularly and brazenly. We have seen how the US establishment pushed the interests of companies such as Enron and Harley Davidson in India. All over the world, the US muscles its way into the economic turf of different countries to raise its flag on its soil.

India is not as unbridled as the US in its pursuit of capitalism and can do it less fervently. But a structured beginning should be attempted. Several Indian corporates from the software sector to manufacturing have already successfully set up shops in developed countries and taking over high-profile brands.

There is a flood of new age entrepreneurs in the country whose tech-led business models can perhaps be more easily replicated in foreign soils facing less resistance than manufacturing sectors. The country should shed inhibitions and explore ways of promoting the interest of Indian entrepreneurs abroad even as they push for traditional exports. There is no other way to pave the way for Indian MNCs.