Write a note on the changing nature of the international trade in the last fifteen years.

International trade has under gone a sea change in the last fifteen years:

(i)Exchange of commodities and goods have been superseded by the exchange of information and knowledge.

(ii)India has emerged as a software giant at the international level and it is earning large foreign exchange through the export of information technology.

(iii)India has trade relations with all the major trading blocks and all geographical regions of the world. Among the commodities in export the share of agriculture and allied products has been 9.9 per cent, ores and minerals 4.0%, gems and jewellery 14.7 per cent, petroleum products (including coal) 16.8 per cent in 2010-11.

(iv)The commodities imported to India include petroleum and petroleum products (28.6 per cent), pearls and precious stones (9.4 per cent), chemicals (5.2 per cent), coal, coke and briquettes (2.7 per cent), machinery (6.4 per cent) in 2010-11.

(v)Bulk imports as a group registered a growth accounting for 28.2 per cent of total imports. This group includes fertilizers (3.4 per cent), cereals (14.3 per cent), edible oils (17.4 per cent) and newsprint (Paper board manufacture and newsprint 40.3 per cent) in 2010-11.