Express View on India’s tariff regime: Costs of a barrier

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Since the early 1990s, India had been steadily moving towards a low tariff structure. The average tariff declined from 125 per cent in 1990-91 to 13 per cent in 2014-15, according to a study. However, since 2014 there have been around 3,200 tariff increases, with the largest increases occurring in 2018, according to a paper by economist Shoumitro Chatterjee and the former chief economic adviser to the government of India, Arvind Subramanian. These large tariff increases, which can be traced to the government’s call for atmanirbharta or self-reliance, have meant that the average tariff rate has risen to around 18...