Short of putting oil, historical past has offered nations with no higher path to prosperity than commerce. There is one quite simple cause for this: scale. Countries that produce items and companies for the world not solely can specialize, but additionally construct up bigger factories and sectors than they might in any other case since they’re serving demand from a number of nations’ populations, not simply their very own.

In most nations, the necessity for scale is clear. Not so in India, which stays blinded by its large home market. This was underlined final week when the federal government launched its newest trade policy — three years late. A brand new coverage is meant to be produced each 5 years, and this one was due in 2020. It was supposedly delayed so the Indian authorities might analyze and reply to the huge shifts within the world buying and selling surroundings introduced on by the pandemic.