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The most significant exporting countries for India are also at the
same time important importing countries. To the list may be added Saudi-
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as petroleum suppliers. However,
India does not seem to bid any substantial exports to counter the
petroleum supplies. From India's standpoint, trade with the USA is
taking a favourable turn, as exports are exceeding imports. It may also be
pointed out that the most important trading partners of India are at the
same time the key donor countries which provide technical and financial
support as development aid. Finally, we are confronted with the question
of 'what-is-attractive-about-India' as a trading partner and the perspec
tives in this context. Focus is generally on the consumer market, which
represents a great potential owing to India's sizable middle class.12 There
still are, however, various bureaucratic and administrative bottlenecks
which are to some extent a disincentive for India's trading partners.
The assessment of the competitiveness of the Indian economy
from the Indian standpoint, especially with respect to products involving
sophisticated technology, is generally viewed with reservations. "Since
market globalization is defined by a new techno-economic paradigm, the
question of India's competitiveness turns into its capacity to transform
imports into production potential and export of new technology goods.
Our detailed analysis, and empirical evidence suggests that India is not
competitive.13
4. Selected areas of economic cooperation
Since the beginning of the 1980s India and Germany have been interested
in expanding the scope for economic cooperation. Since the mid-80s
there have been concerted efforts and a host of concrete activities to
strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries. This in
cludes industrial cooperation, development cooperation and trade rela
tions. Focus is on the liberalisation of the economy which finds direct
expression in the "New Industrial and Technology Policy". What was
essentially lacking so far was, as has already been mentioned, that India
in its present transformation process does not subscribe to or consistently
follow any of the alternative reference models of market economy.
In Germany liberalisation was welcomed by both the industry and
the politicians. To begin with, it was important not to leave the Indian
market now undergoing a process of "opening up" to competitors,
especially the USA and Japan. TECHNOGERMA, the exhibition for
German Companies in March 1988 in New Delhi as well as the Fast
track, an informal Indo-German committee formed in 1988 facilitated
