Making food subsidies work better
Business Standard, July 31, 2011

By Pradeep S Mehta

The ADB study showed that the deserving poor in India received only 10 percent of the benefits from the system. The million dollar question is whether the system can be reformed at all. In my opinion, it is a Herculean task and well nigh impossible. Given that the system functions with many vested interests, efforts to reform it will be countered with ‘logical’ arguments by the polity, because the system feeds on political patronage, and hence all parties are unanimous in supporting it, like caste reservations in India. More...

Preventing failure of Doha Development Agenda
Shanghai Daily, August 02, 2011
Doha Round: the best tool
The News, Pakistan, July 31, 2011
Doha Round is best aid for trade tool
The Financial Express, Bangladesh, July 25, 2011
Doha Round is best aid for trade tool; Pascal Lamy must mobilise members to negotiation table
Economic times, July 25, 2011

By Pradeep S Mehta

One of the critical issues in the international trading system is the Aid-for-Trade (AFT) programme which is to help poor countries to enable them to access gains from trade liberalisation through financial and technical assistance as a standalone programme without mixing it with other aid programmes. The elaborate third review conference on AFT was organised at Geneva. What was sadly not mentioned in the meeting was that the Doha Development Agenda which is the best way forward to assist the poor to trade their way out of poverty. More...

Who Killed Tariffs? Modern Trade
Economic times, July 23, 2011

By Bipul Chatterjee

Although tariffs are trade-distorting, they are part-and-parcel of the international trading system. But do they matter much in today’s emerging regime of international trade where global and regional value chains and associated factors determining trade costs are gaining more importance Trade is about relative competitiveness of competing products produced by different firms. More...

Making the case for NSE
The Financial Express, July 14, 2011

By Pradeep S Mehta

CCI grabbed headlines and spurred numerous editorials in the financial press when it levied a penalty of R55mn on NSE for abuse of dominance. NSE was charged with leveraging its dominance in one market to gain or protect its position of strength in the other by way of fee waivers and exclusionary denial of integrated market watch facility. Many have welcomed the order as a good lesson for the largest bourse in the country to deter it from engaging in anti-competitive practices, while many have also argued that NSE did not enjoy a position of dominance in the currency derivatives market and the zero pricing model adopted by it was not indicative of predatory pricing. More...