India defended yesterday its scuttling of a landmark worldwide trade deal, saying it needed to take a tough stand at the WTO to ensure survival of its impoverished farmers.
Trade Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also lashed out at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), accusing it of foot-dragging on negotiations to approve India’s stockpiling of food.
India’s new right-wing government last week refused to ratify the long-sought global deal on streamlining customs rules, despite WTO members agreeing to the accord at a meeting in Bali last year.
The Trade Facilitation Agreement, the first big global trade reform in years, needs the agreement of all 160 WTO members.
Separately, a Business 20 group representative said failure to ink the pact could mean loss of an $820-billion injection to global gross domestic product, the Press Trust of India reported.
