Unit 4 of Economics (syllabus: Module IV — India's foreign trade since 1991; balance of payments; WTO, SAARC, BRICS; commercial trade policy). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.
What this unit covers
- In what sense does the balance of payments always balance, and in what sense can it be in deficit?
- What caused the 1991 crisis, and what did the response actually change?
- Which instrument governs an Indian import or export, and which policy applies to a consignment?
- How do most-favoured-nation treatment and national treatment divide the ground between them?
- What is a tariff binding, and where does a country's trade policy space live?
- Why has SAARC achieved so little, on the Charter's own terms?
- What kind of grouping is BRICS, and what does its membership now consist of?
Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.
Provisions
- Reserve Bank of India, quarterly balance of payments release, s. Structure of the balance of payments; the absorption identity
- Statement on Industrial Policy, 24 July 1991, s. Industrial licensing; foreign investment; foreign technology; public sector; MRTP Act
- Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992, s. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 11
- WTO agreements as explained in Understanding the WTO, s. GATT Articles 1 and 3; GATS Articles 2 and 17; TRIPS Articles 3 and 4
- WTO agreements as explained in Understanding the WTO, s. Binding of tariff commitments; Trade Policy Review Mechanism
- SAARC Charter, 8 December 1985, s. Articles I, II, III to VIII, IX and X
- BRICS official documents (chair's website and MEA brief), s. Membership, mechanisms and India's chairship
Leading cases
- Reserve Bank of India press release on developments in India's balance of payments
- Statement on Industrial Policy
- P. T. R. Exports (Madras) Pvt. Ltd. v. Union of India
- Understanding the WTO — the principles of the trading system (World Trade Organization)
- Understanding the WTO — predictability through binding and transparency (World Trade Organization)
- Charter of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
- brics2026.gov.in official About Us page; Ministry of External Affairs brief on BRICS