PM to bat for India's exports.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's two-day visit to Toronto later this month for the G20 summit will see India use the occasion to gain a sense of how the world's significant economies view global growth trends and to press for a policy consensus supportive of Indian exports.

The closed door interactions are expected to provide for some plain and frank exchange of views on issues like banking controls and trade policies but Indian interests will lie in trying to shore up a supportive atmosphere for India's trade in view of a still fragile recovery in exports.

The burden of the song is likely to be that those economies that are not too stressed in terms of fiscal deficits should certainly look to retain growth incentives like duty cuts and other measures. It's a tricky job as it involves putting it across that while India needed to consider a graded exit, it hoped others would be more mindful of its concerns.

The Indian delegation, led by PM Manmohan Singh, would count on the competitive strength of its exports to make a sound argument. It helps more costly economies to use Indian manufacture and services to cut expenses and realise better volumes. This should help Indian firms to maintain fuller order books than is currently the case.

Though India is seen to be back on the growth path, there is a consensus in government that small steps, not bold sweeps, have helped in the recovery. Yet, the jury on a full recovery is still out as economy watchers wait to see if there will more troughs or the graph will move steadily upwards.

On a broader screen, India is prepared to enagage in discussions on WTO-related manners which have been stalled for a while and also look at the reform agendas that were thrown up by the crisis of 2008-09. Progress on reforms of financial systems is likely to be slow given the complex nature of regulatory issues that world leaders have been discussing.

But any move to make the financial systems more transparent will be welcome even though Indian leaders, like their counterparts elsewhere acknowledge, are aware that no matter how many layers of scrutiny and checks and balances are added, there is no surefire protection against greed and manipulation. Still, policies that do not encourage reckless risk-taking are being widely welcomed.

The mood at Toronto may be expected to be very in the do-not-rock-the-boat mode given the collapse of the Greek economy which required other European nations to perform as rescue act. Greece's financial crisis, brought on by poor political leadership and an impossibly bloated public sector, will remain on the minds of G20 leaders when they meet in Toronto's salubrious climes on June 26-27.

Source :- economictimes.indiatimes.com/news