Indian Agriculture under WTO and FTAs: An Assessment

Liberalisation of Indian agriculture under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and free trade agreements (FTAs) has always been a sensitive issue due to the crucial role played by the sector in economic development, GDP growth and employment. This chapter provides an overview of the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture and the issues faced by the Indian agriculture sector under its different pillars. In particular, it examines issues of critical importance for India, such as market price support, import surges, food security and special and differential treatment (S&DT) at the WTO, while also providing insights from negotiations. The chapter also deals with agriculture-specific issues in India’s FTAs, providing a broad view of its commitments and assessing trade performance of Indian agriculture over the years. It concludes by stressing the need to level the playing field in agricultural trade at the multilateral and regional level for Indian farmers.