Change in India's Export Composition in the Post-Liberalisation Era

Abstract

The paper examines empirically whether reforms have resulted in a change of the export composition. Specifically, whether there has been a movement in favour of technology & knowledge-intensive goods and away from primary resource-intensive products. In this study, an attempt has also been made to find out whether the demand for knowledge or capital-intensive products is increasing at a faster rate than that of the labour-intensive products. The results show that India's exports have shifted towards more value added product categories. Their gain has primarily come at the cost of labourintensive products. Further, the study also reveals that the demand for knowledge-intensive or capital-intensive products is increasing at a faster rate than that of labour-intensive products.