NCERT Book Class 12 Geography (India People And Economy) Chapter 8 International Trade

You have already studied about the various
Unit IV
aspects of International trade in the book
Chapter 8
Fundamentals of Human Geography.
International Trade is mutually beneficial as
no country is self-sufficient. India’s
international trade has undergone a sea change
in recent years in terms of volume, composition
as well as direction. Although India’s
contribution in the world trade is as low as
one per cent of the total volume, yet it plays a
significant role in the world economy.
Let us examine the changing pattern of
India’s International trade. In 1950-51, India’s
INTERNATIONAL external trade was worth Rs.1,214 crore, which
TRADE rose to Rs. 77,19,796 crore in 2020-21. Can
you calculate the percentage growth in 2020-21
over 1950-51? There are numerous reasons for
this sharp rise in overseas trade, such as the
momentum picked up by the manufacturing
sectors, the liberal policies of the government
and the diversification of markets.
The nature of India’s foreign trade has
changed over the years (Table 8.1). Though there
has been an increase in the total volume of import
and export, the value of import continued to be
higher than that of exports.

Changing Pa ttern of the
Pa
Composition of India’ s Expor
India’s ts
Exports
Extent of gap between Exports and Imports in India’s
foreign trade During 2013-14 to 2021-22

Source: Economic Survey 2022-23

Fig. 8.1

86 India : People and Economy