‘Foreign trade policy refers to take steps to regulate inflows and outflows of goods from and to foreign countries’. What value does the government add to the economy by liberalising imports ?
Under the New Economic Policy of 1991, Govern-ment of India liberalised imports to enhance the availability of goods in the country, e.g., in 2008-09. import duties on rice, wheat, pulses, edible oils, maize, butter, ghee, etc were kept at zero. This increased the availability of goods within domestic market. As a result, price of these basic necessities were controlled and the poor people availed the benefits. The idea was to reduce poverty in the country.