End ‘negative protection’ to boost campaign

New Delhi, February 27

To promote 'Make in India' campaign, the government needs to shield domestic companies from foreign competition and eliminate those exemptions that work as 'negative protection', suggested the Economic Survey.
The survey said the win-win situation would be to end "all exemptions for the countervailing duty that will eliminate the negative protection facing Indian manufacturers, and help the 'Make in India' initiative without violating India's international obligations".
It said one of three ways to boost 'Make in India', which aims at making India a global manufacturing hub, is providing protection to the domestic firms from foreign competition through tariffs and mandatory local sourcing besides making regulations and taxes less onerous. India's current indirect tax system acts sometimes to favour foreign production over domestically produced goods, thus providing negative protection. — PTI