Sir — This refers to the article, “FTA is a bane for Indian economy” (August 9) by Arindam Chaudhuri. Free trade agreements work both ways. If the European Union gets access to Indian dairy markets, we too have access to the EU markets. Needless to add, the Indian dairy market is quite mature and competitive (with 135 million tonnes of production).
The author is right about the manufacturing sector, especially in the case of automobiles, where European companies are far advanced than their Indian counterparts. But, what the Europeans are demanding is in exchange of that quality which we don’t have, and they are giving. In the end, we have to face the reality that India cannot have a protectionist approach unilaterally and still hope to survive in the face of global competition. Give and take is the right way for global business to grow. We must adopt this approach.