The Impact of Economic Reforms on India’s Exports: A Comparative Study of pre and post-reform Periods

• ZAFAR IQBAL

  CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF KERALA

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of economic reforms on India’s export performance by comparing the pre- and post-reform periods. In the early 1990s, India implemented significant economic reforms, including steps for liberalisation, deregulation, and globalisation. These reforms shifted India’s economy from a primarily closed and protected structure to a more open and market-oriented one. The study offers a thorough empirical analysis by employing both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. It evaluates several macroeconomic indicators, export statistics, trade regulations, and institutional changes to assess India’s export industry transition. The pre-reform period, characterised by import substitution and trade restrictions, is contrasted with the post-reform period, characterised by a more open and competitive market environment. This study focuses on the performance of India’s exports and imports from 1980 to 2017 and the trajectory of exports, imports, and trade balance from 1968 to 2017.

This study also looks into the commodity-wise analysis of agricultural trade from 1990-2021. The study used the paired sample t-test to empirically examine the impact of the 1991 economic reforms on exports and imports. According to the study, exports and imports performed better in the post-reform period. In the post-reform period, the compound growth rate of exports was 12.50%, whereas the compound growth rate of imports was 13.94%. The empirical tests revealed that economic changes favorably impacted both the growth rate of exports and imports. Agricultural exports from India increased from Rs. 253976 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 305469 crore in 2020-21, and net agricultural export surplus has also increased to Rs 147681 crore in 2020-21 from Rs. 105530 crore in 2019-20, registering a growth of 20.75 per cent and 39.94 per cent, respectively, compared to the previous year. The main drivers of the increase in Agri-exports in 2020-21 were wheat, vegetable oils, other cereals, non-basmati rice, and molasses, and during the first quarter of 2021-22, other cereals, meat, dairy, and poultry products, cereal preparations, miscellaneous processed items, oil meals, and marine products.

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