India’s ongoing quest to become a developed country of what it describes as Viksit Bharat by 2047, the centenary year of its Independence, is a grueling task uphill to do with unwavering perseverance. This is so as the challenges call for “addressing structural challenges, including high trade costs, regulatory complexity, infrastructure gaps and barriers to deeper global integration.” This is the crux of the 244-page report of India’s Trade Policy Review under discussion at the WTO headquarters in Geneva with the Indian authorities for three days beginning on July 21.
This once-in-four-year review from the global body that is increasingly coming under intense pressure from the United States to stay relevant when multilateralism is in a moribund state, has, however, many salutary things to say on India, reviewing the rocky road it had traversed in the interregnum. The major objective, according to the WTO, is a “long-term vision” foreseeing India to become “a self-reliant, inclusive, innovation-driven, and sustainable developed economy by 2047. It is a lower-middle-income economy with a per capita GDP of $2671 in fiscal years 2024-25”.
To attain high-income economy status by 2047, India will need to sustain real GDP growth of approximately 8 per cent annually. In the post-Covid-19 pandemic period, India was consistently the fastest-growing G-20 economy including in 2022-23, when India chaired the G-20 for the first time. GDP growth estimates, rebased on fiscal 2022-23 economic data, compute average annual real GDP growth rate at 7.3 per cent between fiscal year 2022-23 and 2025-26, the WTO noted adding that India’s digital economy and digitally delivered services were the standout performer. Stating that the digital economy is estimated to be growing “at twice the pace of the overall economy”, the report singled out India Stacks solutions as “a defining feature.” Interoperability is an inherent lineament of the India Stack, a set of open application programming interfaces and digital public goods, it noted adding that participation from non-Indian firms in the India Stack is possible by offering services on the application ecosystem or through India stack government procurement tenders.
That is why in its presentation to the WTO, India contended that “amid complex digital, green and demographic transitions, unimpeded access to global markets, critical minerals and high-end technology remains a non-negotiable imperative”.
Identified as a priority emerging areas in the 2023 Foreign Trade Policy, India logged a luscious average annual growth of about 17.3 per cent in digitally delivered services between 2021 and 2025, according to WTO estimates. India also ran a digitally delivered services trade surplus of more than $200 billion in 2025. India’s customs clearance is electronic with the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) being operational at around 260 major customs houses and 300 special economic zones (SEZs) handling 99 per cent of India’s trade.
Stating that India’s trade performance reflected its robust revealed comparative advantages in services, the WTO report contends that its services trade surplus reached 4.8 per cent of GDP in fiscal 2024-25, partly counterbalancing a goods trade deficit of 7.3 per cent. Besides, strong remittance inflows also helped cover part of the deficit.
While India’s manufacturing is a policy priority as a key focus of the Viksit Bharat vision with the government putting in place the plethora of investment promotion measures and targeted spurs for this sector, services remained the dominant driver of overall economic expansion from the supply front, accounting for 53.6 per cent of GDP in the first half of 2025-26. In services trade, telecom, computer, and information services held the largest export category, while other business services accounted for the largest share of services imports. Interestingly, while India scores in line with the G-20 average on services trade restrictiveness, it took steps to liberalise financial and professional services during the review period of 2022-2026.
Importantly, alterations in India’s revealed comparative advantage index since 2021 show “a rebalancing from traditional, low-value-added commodities towards more technology-driven manufacturing”, the report lauded, adding that in merchandise trade, petroleum and petroleum products, along with minerals, metals and chemicals, accounted for the largest share of both exports and imports. These were followed by electrical and electronic equipment, transport equipment, and
mechanical, office, and IT equipment.
India’s participation in Global Value Chains (GVC), albeit increasing after the Covid-19 pandemic, remains below the ASEAN (Association for Southeast Asian Nations) average. At 0.09 in the UNCTAD export index in 2024, India’s export concentration index showed a comparable level of diversification to many developed economies, a pat on the back of the authorities for the arduous efforts they made in keeping the export juggernaut ambling.
On the tariffs impinging on trade, the WTO said at the 6-digit level and as calculated by the WTO for the purpose of cross-country comparisons, India’s overall average applied MFN (Most Favored Nation) tariff was 15.8 per cent in 2025.
Cryptically, the report concluded with panache that as India seeks to expand its role in global trade, diversify exports and meet its long-term development goals, “the balance between self-reliance and openness, as well as its engagement in the multilateral trading system and its reforms, will remain a key determinant of its future growth and resilience”. One earnestly hopes that authorities here hear this counsel instead of dismissing it as a hectoring!
(G Srinivasan is a senior economic journalist based in New Delhi.)
