BOOK 2 CH11 International Trade (Summary)

BOOK2 INDIA PEOPLE AND ECONOMY

CH11 INTERNATIONAL TRADE

SUMMARY

 Changing Patterns of The Composition of India's Exports

• During recent years, a change has been recorded in the composition of commodities of commodities in India's international trade. There is a decline in the share of agriculture and allied products whereas shares of petroleum products and other commodities have increased. The share of petroleum products has increased mainly because  of the rise in petroleum prices and increase mainly because of the rise in petroleum prices and increase in the petroleum refining capacity of India.
• A huge decline is registered in the export of traditional items like, coffee, spices, tea, pulses, etc due to the tough international items like, coffee, spices, tea, pulses, etc due to the tough international competition. Though an increase has been registered in floricultural products, fresh fruits, marine products and sugar, etc. But manufacturing sector alone accounted for 68%  of India's total value of export in 2010 -11.
• The major competitors of India are china and other East Asian countries. Apart from this, the gems and jewellery are other commodities that have larger share in India's international trade.

Changing Patterns of The Composition of India's Import

• During 1950s and 1960s, India faced serious food shortage, thus the country had to import food gain, capital goods, machinery and equipments at large scale.
• The balance of payment was adverse as import were more than export inspite of all the efforts to imports substitution.
• After 1970s the success of green revolution discontinued the food grain import of food grains by fertilizers and petroleum as the prices of petroleum has been raised.
• Beside , other imported goods were machine and equipment, special steel, edible oil and chemicals.
• According to economic survey 2011-12, petroleum products have registered a rapid increase in import goods.
• It is a raw material for petrochemical industries and also used as fuel. The increase signifies the tempo of rising industrialisation and improvement in standard of living.
• Periodic price rise of petroleum in the international  market mayn be another reason for this increase.
• Import of capital goods like non - electrical machinery, transport equipment, manufactures of metals and machine tools registered a steady increase. This increase could be because of increasing demand in the export oriented industrial and domestic sectors.
• Import of food and allied products registered a decrease because of a sudden decline in imports of edible oils.
• Pearls and semi - precious stones, gold and silver, metalliferrous ores and metal scrap, non - ferrous metals, electronic goods, etc are other important items of India's import.

Sea Ports as Gateways of International Trade

• India has a long has a long history of international trade via sea ports as it has long coastline and is opened to sea from three sides. Water provides smooth surface and cheap transport without any hinderance.
• India has developed many ports on its coast. These ports are named with suffix 'pattan' meaning port. It is interesting to know that India has more sea ports on west coast than its East coast.
• After coming of the European traders and colonisation of the country by the British, the Indian ports have emerged as gateways of international trade.
• There are some parts which have very vast area of influence and some have limited area of influence. 

Major And Minor Ports 

• At present, India has 12 major and 185  minor or intermediate ports. For major ports, central Government is responsible for deciding the policies and regulate their functions and for minor ports, State Government is responsible for the same function stated above.
• A Larger port of total traffic is handled by major ports, e.g about 71% of the India's oceanic traffic was handled by the 12 major ports during 2008 - 09.
• The Britishers used these ports to export natural resource of India; Particularly from their hinterland but this trend was discontinued after 1947.
• The India lost its two very important ports i,e, Karachi port to Pakistan and Chittagong port to Bangladesh (erstwhile East - Pakistan). But India recovered successfully from this loss by opening many new ports, for instance, Kandla in the west and the Diamond harbour near Kolkata on river Hugli in the East.
• Today, large volumes of domestic and international trade are handled by these Indian ports. Most of the ports are equipped with modern infrastructure.
• Previously, it was expected that government agencies are responsible for the development agencies are responsible for the development and modernisation of Indian ports. But it was considered that there is a need to increase the functions and bring these ports at par with the international ports. Thus, private entrepreneurs have been invited for the modernisation of ports in the coutry.
• The cargo handling capacity of Indian ports increased from 20 million tonnes in 1951 to more than 600 million tonnes at present.   

Important Ports

1. Kandla Port

2. Mumbai Port

3. Jawaharlal Nehru Port

4. Marmaggo Port 

5. New Mangalore Port

6. Kochchi Port

7. Kolkata Port

8. Haldia Port

9. Paradwip Port.

10. Vishakhapatnam Port.

11. Chennai Port

12. Ennore Port

13. Tuticorin Port

Airports

Air transport plays a significant role in the international trade of a nation.

The advantages are follows:

(i) Air transport is very useful for handling high value or perishable goods over long distance.

(ii) It takes less time to transport cargo.

The disadvantage are as follows:

(i) Air transport is very costly.

(ii) It is not suitable for the transportation of heavy and bulky commodities.

Thus having these disadvantages air transport is not/less preferred for international trade as compared to oceanic routes.

At present, there are 12 international airports. They are; Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengalura, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Guhwahati, Hyderabad, Kochchi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Thiruvanthapuram. Apart from these, there are 112 domestic airports in India.