Subsidies provided by India to farmers quite low compared to western countries: Wadhawan

28 Mar 2019 Evaluate

Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan has said that subsidies provided by India to its farmers are only about $250 per annum per farmer as compared to billions of dollars which western countries give. He also said that India’s subsidies run into trouble as they are not structured properly, so there is a need to learn from other countries. 

Wadhawan has stated that developed nations, including the European Union (EU) and the US, have alleged in the World Trade Organization (WTO) that India offers huge subsidies to its farmers. He also said India always maintains that its farm subsidies are well below the WTO's cap of 10 percent. Adding further, he said the US has also dragged India to the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism over export subsidies, saying these incentives were harming American companies, prompting the government to state that it would engage with the Trump administration and explain its position. In the agriculture sector, he said the EU and the US provide huge subsidies but cleverly put those in boxes which are WTO compatible. 

Talking about special economic zones (SEZs), Commerce Secretary said there is a need to make these zones as zones of excellence, which should be investor friendly, having state-of-the-art infrastructure. He also stated that there is a need to look at Chinese model of these zones which are spread in a much wider space and added that India's SEZ policy does not get implemented entirely as envisaged. Rather than SEZs, he said India needs coastal economic zones, and noted that incentives should be linked to employment creation. He said that these zones would have significant positive impact on India's economic growth. 


© 2026 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×