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India and the European Union (EU) resumed negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2022, aiming to strengthen their economic and strategic alliances. This study examines the influence of domestic interest groups in India on the India–EU FTA negotiations, using Robert Putnam’s two-level game literature to analyse their trade policy preferences. The study focuses on specific cases from the automobile and dairy sectors to highlight sector-specific interest groups. The findings reveal that influential and well-organized interest groups within the automobile sector are pressurizing the government to oppose trade liberalization efforts. Similarly, although unorganized and dispersed, the sheer size of domestic interest groups in the dairy sector, coupled with their electoral influence, empowers them to pressurize trade policymakers against liberalizing the dairy sector in the India–EU FTA negotiations.

The industrial policy is back in vogue of the ‘development discourse’ both in the developed and developing countries due to suboptimal success of market-oriented policies in facilitating socioeconomic and structural transformation. The rise of debate and discourse on industrial policy is also shaped by many other developments such as evolution of newer technologies and their impact on manufacturing, global trade protectionism and pandemic-induced global supply chain disruption( s) among others. The increased interest in the industrial policy at the time of global protectionism has refreshed the old debate in the developing countries on the choice of industrial model, that is, import-substituting industrialization (ISI) and export-led industrialization (ELI). In this context, this article examines India’s industrial strategy under the Self-Reliant India Mission with a special focus on trade policy, investment policy and production-linked incentives (PLI) to understand whether it is adopting policies that squarely fall under the ISI or ELI model. The findings of the article are based on analysis of the trade policy, investment policy and PLI scheme to illustrate that India is adopting policies that broadly fall under the ambit of ISI model thus taking India economy back to re-adoption of inward-looking policies of prereforms era.

With the introduction of the Self-Reliant India initiative, the Government of India (GOI) has underlined the importance of trade policy instruments to augment the capabilities of the domestic manufacturing sector. It has used both tariffs and non-tariff measures (NTMs) but NTMs have emerged as an important instrument of India’s trade strategy under the Self-Reliant India initiative. This article analyses selected NTMs i.e., import monitoring mechanism, quality standards (QSs), and changes in Rules of Origin (RoO) to understand the broader orientation of India’s trade policy. Findings demonstrate that the introduction of these NTMs are aimed at fostering a strong ecosystem for NTMs to restrict imports thereby extending protection to the domestic industry from international competition. It also reflects that India’s broad trade policy orientation is gradually moving towards a protectionist regime under the ‘self-reliant’ agenda.

Rules of Origin (RoO) have become an important area of policy attention in international trade negotiations due to their far-reaching trade and investment implications to member countries. The main function of RoO in free trade agreements (FTAs) is to set conditions so that goods produced within FTAs comply with the essential origin criterion to claim the benefits of preferential market access and to prevent the entry of goods from non- FTA partners. The rising cases of disproportionate trade benefits have compelled countries to review their RoO provisions under different trade agreements. Additionally, the disproportionate benefit of RoO under the South Asia Free Trade (SAFTA) has received considerable interest in the recent years. This article examines how RoO under the SAFTA is extending unwarranted trade benefit to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in bicycle and textile and clothing industries. Findings backed by data analysis demonstrate that the entry of Chinese imports into the Indian market via Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is adversely affecting the domestic bicycle and garment industries. Options available to revamp RoO under the SAFTA are limited. This article concludes that reforming value addition criterion and including a ‘sourcing restrictions’ clause may prove effective to prevent the unjustifiable benefits of RoO.

After negotiating for seven years, fifteen member countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement concluded text-based negotiations on 4 November 2019 at a summit held in Bangkok, conveying that participants will sign the agreement in 2020. However, India refused to join the RCEP agreement on the ground that its ‘outstanding and domestic concerns’ remained unresolved. This article examines key factors that shaped India’s decision not to participate in the RCEP. To examine these key factors, two-level game literatures are used to focus on domestic factors and interest groups explaining the role of actors that shaped India’s trade policy preferences regarding the RCEP. Specific cases from the steel and agricultural sector are used to examine powerful sector-specific interest groups in this article. Findings show that powerful and well-organized interest groups within the steel sector successfully pressurized the government to withdraw from the RCEP. In the agricultural sector, interest groups are fragmented, but because of their large number as an electoral group, farmers and workers provided power to influence the government to opt out from the RCEP.

China's joining of WTO in 2001 has completely changed its economic structure and its entry in WTO proved to be a landmark event in the global economy. As a result, China's trade relations with the world have improved significantly particularly with India. Both, India and China are the fastest growing economies in the world since they have grown at rate of 8% and 10% GDP respectively. The total trade between India and China was reached to $60 billion in 2010. However, the major change in the trade relations between India and China has come after China's joining of WTO in 2001. In the above background, this paper is divided into three parts. The first part of the paper examines the direction of foreign trade of China after becoming a member of WTO and, the second part analyzes India's trade relations with China (Pre and Post China's joining of WTO). The final section of the paper delineates the major constraints between India and China for improving trade relations.

Abstract The present study reports the radioprotective properties of a hydro-alcoholic rhizome extract of Rhodiola imbricata (code named REC-7004), a plant native to the high-altitude Himalayas. The radioprotective effect, along with its relevant superoxide ion scavenging, metal chelation, antioxidant, anti-lipid peroxidation and anti-hemolytic activities was evaluated under both in vitro and in vivo conditions. Chemical analysis showed the presence of high content of polyphenolics (0.971 ± 0.01 mg% of quercetin). Absorption spectra analysis revealed constituents that absorb in the range of 220–290 nm, while high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis confirmed the presence of four major peaks with retention times of 4.780, 5.767, 6.397 and 7.577 min. REC-7004 was found to lower lipid oxidation significantly (p < 0.05) at concentrations viz., 8 and 80 µg/ml respectively as compared to reduced glutathione, although the optimally protective dose was 80 µg/ml, which showed 59.5% inhibition of induction of linoleic acid degradation within first 24 h. The metal chelation activity of REC-7004 was found to increase concomitantly from 1 to 50 µg/ml. REC-7004 (10–50 µg/ml) exhibited significant metal chelation activity (p < 0.05), as compared to control, and maximum percentage inhibition (30%) of formation of iron-2,2'-bi-pyridyl complex was observed at 50 µg/ml, which correlated well with quercetin (34.9%), taken as standard. The reducing power of REC-7004 increased in a dose-dependent manner. The absorption unit value of REC-7004 was significantly lower (0.0183± 0.0033) as compared to butylated hydroxy toluene, a standard antioxidant (0.230± 0.091), confirming its high reducing ability. Superoxide ion scavenging ability of REC-7004 exhibited a dose-dependent increase (1–100 µg/ml) and was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that of quercetin at lower concentrations (1–10 µg/ml), while at 100 µg/ml, both quercetin and REC-7004 scavenged over 90% superoxide anions. MTT assay in U87 cell line revealed an increase in percent survival of cells at doses between 25 and 125 µg/ml in case of drug + radiation group. In vivo evaluation of radio-protective efficacy in mice revealed that intraperitoneal administration of REC-7004 (maximally effective dose: 400 mg/kg b.w.) 30 min prior to lethal (10 Gy) total-body ?-irradiation rendered 83.3% survival. The ability of REC-7004 to inhibit lipid peroxidation induced by iron/ascorbate, radiation (250 Gy) and their combination [i.e., iron/ascorbate and radiation (250 Gy)], was also investigated and was found to decrease in a dose-dependent manner (0.05–2 mg/ml). The maximum percent inhibition of formation of MDA-TBA complex at 2 mg/ml in case of iron/ascorbate, radiation (250 Gy) and both i.e., iron/ascorbate with radiation (250 Gy) was 53.78, 63.07, and 51.76% respectively and were found to be comparable to that of quercetin. REC-7004 (1 µg/ml) also exhibited significant anti-hemolytic capacity by preventing radiation-induced membrane degeneration of human erythrocytes. In conclusion, Rhodiola renders in vitro and in vivo radioprotection via multifarious mechanisms that act in a synergistic manner.

Abstract Whole extract of rhizomes of Podophyllum hexandrum has been reported earlier by our group to render whole-body radioprotection. High-altitude P. hexandrum (HAPH) was therefore fractionated using solvents of varying polarity (non-polar to polar) and the different fractions were designated as, n-hexane (HE), chloroform (CE), alcohol (AE), hydro-alcohol (HA) and water (WE). The total polyphenolic content (mg% of quercetin) was determined spectrophotometrically, while. The major constituents present in each fraction were identified and characterized using LC-APCI/MS/MS. In vitro screening of the individual fractions, rich in polyphenols and lignans, revealed several bioactivities of direct relevance to radioprotection e.g. metal-chelation activity, antioxidant activity, DNA protection, inhibition of radiation (250 Gy) and iron/ascorbate-induced lipid peroxidation (LPO). CE exhibited maximum protection to plasmid (pBR322) DNA in the plasmid relaxation assay (68.09% of SC form retention). It also showed maximal metal chelation activity (41.59%), evaluated using 2,2'-bipyridyl assay, followed by AE (31.25%), which exhibited maximum antioxidant potential (lowest absorption unit value: 0.0389± 0.00717) in the reducing power assay. AE also maximally inhibited iron/ascorbate-induced and radiation-induced LPO (99.76 and 92.249%, respectively, at 2000 µg/ml) in mouse liver homogenate. Under conditions of combined stress (radiation (250 Gy) + iron/ascorbate), at a concentration of 2000 µg/ml, HA exhibited higher percentage of inhibition (93.05%) of LPO activity. HA was found to be effective in significantly (p < 0.05) lowering LPO activity over a wide range of concentrations as compared to AE. The present comparative study indicated that alcoholic (AE) and hydro-alcoholic (HA) fractions are the most promising fractions, which can effectively tackle radiation-induced oxidative stress.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Introduction: Type 3 Von Willebrand Disease (VWD) is an autosomal recessive bleeding disorder with a prevalence of about 0.5 to 1 per million in western countries. In India there lies no epidemiological data on the prevalence of different subtypes. However type-3 VWD outnumbers the other types mainly due to (i) high degree of consanguinity and (ii) under diagnosis of mild to moderate subtypes. Clinically being a severe subtype, there are very few studies describing mutation spectrum and molecular pathology of the disease in Indian population. Hence we screened for mutations in patients with type III(VWD). More than 724 mutations have been reported in the literature. Identification of mutations is important for offering genetic testing to families affected by this disorder and to understand the biology of von willebrand factor.