- India joined ITA in 1996.
- Agreed to eliminate import duties on 217 IT products by 2005.
- India’s average import duties on IT products came down drastically.
- Implications:
- India was a minor player in global IT product market at the time.
- India’s exports of IT products were lowest among original signatories.
- India’s experience has been “most discouraging,” almost wiping out IT industry.
- The real gainer was China, which increased its global market share.
- India decided not to participate in ITA expansion (ITA-II) negotiations.
- This is to build a sound manufacturing environment in electronics and IT.
- India wants to incubate its industry rather than expose it to undue competition.