Trends in India's High Technology Trade

By and large, India’s performance on the high technology manufacturing trade front is not too impressive. Unlike China or Brazil, India is a small player in most of the product categories barring pharmacy sector. In the last ten years period of observation, India has not able increase her presence significantly in most of the segment. By contrast, China, starting from the similar base like India in some of the segments, has exhibited marked improvement. Since pharmacy is one sector where India is doing well, it would make sense to nurture this sector. It is also surprising that India, with a large scientific base, occupies such a small share in respect of trade in scientific instruments. As out analysis indicates that there is a direct link between royalties and high technology trade, it is important to encourage this segment. Our analysis indicates that India has performed relatively well in the knowledge intensive service industries. However, this has happened primarily due to the significant growth of the area of computer and information services. However in the coming years, the other segments like financial services, insurance services, health services, entertainment services are more likely to grow at a rapid pace. If India is to emerge as an important player in the knowledge intensive service industries, we need to improve our presence in these segments. At present, we are small players in these categories