MS Alam

The existing Foreign Trade Policy of India is outdated by two years, but given the global trade situation—first hit and then exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic—is showing no signs of improving, it might be a while before a new FTP sees the light of day. Meanwhile, can India do something to brand itself as an attractive sourcing destination? Buying agents weigh in.

Oil crisis, rising cotton prices, stagnating growth — too many factors at play now, some interconnected, others having a cascading effect this way or that — all these put buying agents in an unenviable position as they need to deal with two sides of the manufacturer-brand equation, in the backdrop of US sanctions on Russia.

The force majeure cancellations and payment battles that socked Indian exports after the first 2020 lockdown are mostly a thing of the past. But if Indian industry has to rise from the COVID-19 ashes, it will have to boost capacities and need the requisite resources too.