Evaluate India's stance on a 'rules-based multilateral trading system' amid rising global protectionism.

The WTO's Trade Policy Review Mechanism is a non-adversarial surveillance tool that promotes transparency without enforcing compliance [4]. At its 8th Trade Policy Review in Geneva (21 & 23 July 2026), India reaffirmed commitment to a transparent, rules-based, inclusive and development-oriented trading order [1][2] — a stance largely credible, though qualified by its own defensive measures.

Strengths of India's position

• Consistent institutional engagement: India submitted to its eighth review, covering 2021–2025, based on a WTO Secretariat report and a government policy statement [6]; nearly 70 Members intervened, reflecting its systemic weight [2].
• Openness backed by performance: record combined merchandise and services exports of USD 863.1 billion demonstrate deepening global integration, not retreat [2].
• Domestic reform as trade facilitation: GST and Digital Public Infrastructure were cited as structural reforms easing trade [2].
• Defence of the system's core: India has opposed the fragmentation of the multilateral system and the smuggling in of non-trade issues, as at MC13 [3], and pressed for WTO reform rather than exit [2].

Limits and tensions

• Rhetoric versus tariff practice: the WTO Secretariat report (WT/TPR/S/488) documents India's tariff structure and trade restrictions, inviting Member questions on predictability [5].
• Self-reliance signalling: Aatmanirbhar Bharat, reviewed internationally, carries import-substitution overtones that sit uneasily with liberalisation rhetoric [2].
• Bilateral drift: growing reliance on FTAs (India–UK, India–EU talks) reflects pragmatism but dilutes a multilateral-first commitment.
• Structural constraint: reaffirmation at a TPR is non-binding; with dispute settlement weakened, transparency alone cannot restrain protectionism [4].

On balance, India's stance is genuine and stabilising rather than merely declaratory — it defends rules while reserving development policy space. The way forward lies in pairing this advocacy with restoring a functioning dispute settlement system, tariff predictability, and reform anchored in special and differential treatment, so that trade remains, in India's own framing, a force for shared and sustainable prosperity.