In a period of about thirteen years since July 1991 (when India embarked on a major economic reforms program), the foreign trade regime in India has been considerably liberalised, especially in respect of imports of manufactures. The quantitative restrictions on imports of manufactured products, which was about 90 percent before the economic reforms (end-1990), have now been mostly done away with. This has been accompanied by drastic reductions in industrial tariff rates. The import weighted average tariff rate on manufactured products has come down from about 72 per cent in 1990 (prior to the reforms) to about 15 per cent at present. The peak rate of import duty, which was 150 per cent in 1991, has now come down to 20 per cent. Yet, the current rates of industrial tariff in India are among of the highest in the world.
